JEM and SLM meet Sudanese officials in Berlin over peace in Darfur
May 16, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) will meet a Sudanese government delegation in Berlin for informal consultations meeting over outstanding issues.
Last August the two armed opposition groups and the government failed to sign a humanitarian cessation of hostilities in Darfur region. The two sides failed to agree on the grounds of their future talks as the holdout rebels refuses to negotiate on the basis of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
“The two Movements received an invitation from the German Foreign Ministry to meet with a delegation from the Sudanese government in Berlin on 18 and 19 May,” said a statement extended to Sudan Tribune signed by JEM and SLM-MM chief negotiators respectively Ahmed Tugud and Ali Trayo.
Trayo and Tugud stressed that the purpose of the meeting is to conduct informal consultations with over the outstanding issues that prevented an agreement to stop hostilities paving the way for humanitarian access in Darfur.
The German government is one of the international facilitators supporting the efforts led by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to end the war in Sudan and achieve democratic reforms.
“The two Movements commend the continued efforts of the German government in the search for security, peace and stability in Darfur and throughout Sudan,” further said the statement.
They pointed that “the meeting comes within a political context totally different from the time of their last round of talks”.
Further, the statement went to say that the government of the National Congress Party has broken the Roadmap Agreement denying any opportunity for a genuine peace and democratic reforms through an equal national dialogue.
Earlier this month the two groups handed over a position paper to the Joint Chief Mediator and UNAMID head stressing the need “to address the rules of procedure and other protocol issues for how negotiations on Darfur would proceed, so as to ensure parity and effective communication among the parties”.
Also, they reiterated their demand to open the DDPD, a matter that the government rejects, and to discuss substantive issues including the root causes of the conflict, and its consequences.
(ST)