Sudan says Darfur peace document won’t be opened for negotiation
June 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government Tuesday said the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) wouldn’t be opened for negotiation and stressed it won’t review any of its items as the document became part of the constitution.
He also said the meeting discussed the proposal presented by the JEM and the SLMM-M in a joint position paper to merge the Qatari and African imitative on Darfur peace process.
However, the chairman of Darfur peace follow-up office, Amin Hassan Omer, has affirmed that the government wouldn’t agree to review the DDPD items, saying the peace document won’t be opened for negotiation.
He told the official news agency (SUNA) Tuesday that “we wouldn’t review any single item of the Doha document and we wouldn’t renegotiate it”.
The Sudanese official described the demands of the rebel groups to open the DDPD for negotiation as “illogical”, saying “they [the rebels] know that they have no clear issue in their minds and that is why they call for reviewing [the document]”.
Omer further pointed that the DDPD became part of the constitution and any attempt to amend it would require the approval of two-thirds of the parliament members.
The Doha brokered the Darfur peace negotiations resulted in the signing of the DDPD by the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) in July 2011. JEM which had initiated the process rejected the deal.
The two groups have engaged in peace talks with the government under the auspices of the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP). However, several rounds of talks between the two groups and the government in Addis Ababa have stalled and no progress on the pending issues was made.
JEM and SLM-MM call for opening the DDPD for negotiations, saying some issues were ignored or not fairly treated, but Khartoum rejects such request.
Omer also stressed that the African mediation wouldn’t become part of the DDPD but said that it is welcomed to play the role of a facilitator as stated in the Roadmap Agreement.
“If they [the rebels] want [the African mediation to facilitate the talks] then they are welcome … we don’t mind … but they must sign the Roadmap Agreement” he said.
Last March, the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and the Sudanese government signed a framework agreement calling to stop war in Blue Nile, Darfur, and South Kordofan and to engage in the national dialogue process.
However, the opposition groups, JEM, National Umma Party (NUP), Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -North (SPLM-N), and SLM-MM refused the roadmap saying it acknowledges a government controlled dialogue conference and would lead to reproduce the regime.
It is noteworthy that the Sudanese government had earlier rejected the JEM and SLM-MM proposal that Doha forum becomes part of the African mediation and described it as an attempt to circumvent the Roadmap Agreement.
(ST)