Darfur rebels to talk peace with Sudan
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
DARFUR'S rebel groups yesterday concluded four days of talks in Tanzania by agreeing on a common platform to enter final peace negotiations with the Sudanese government.
A unified position for the fractious rebels was seen as yet another important step towards ending four and half years of deadly fighting in Darfur, a week after a landmark UN decision to deploy 26,000 peacekeepers there.
The eight rebel factions represented in the Arusha talks "presented a common platform on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, security arrangements, land and humanitarian issues, for the final negotiations", according to the final statement.
"They also recommended that final talks should be held between two to three months from now," the statement said, adding that the venue had yet to be determined.
The rebel groups also committed themselves to a raft of confidence-building measures to pave the way for final peace talks, including ensuring humanitarian access to Darfur, where the combined effect of war has left at least 200,000 dead since 2003.
The two top mediators in the talks, United Nations envoy Jan Eliasson and his African Union counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim, said they would travel to Khartoum for consultations with the Sudanese government in the coming days.
"We would want to see concrete commitment" from Khartoum to a ceasefire, Salim told reporters after the talks' closing session.
In the final statement, the rebel groups "reiterated their readiness to respect a complete cessation of hostilities, provided that all other parties make similar commitments".
Yet neither the rebels nor the mediators were willing to reveal the details of the rebels' position on power-sharing and wealth-sharing.
The conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region erupted when rebel groups complaining of political and economic marginalisation by the government in Khartoum took up arms.
A peace deal was signed with the government in Abuja in May 2006 but only one rebel faction endorsed it, sparking deep divisions and a new surge in violence.
Two key rebel players did not attend the Arusha talks, including the Paris-exiled founding father of the Darfur rebellion, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur.
He boycotted the meeting, arguing that the invited factions were illegitimate and that such consultations should only take place once a ceasefire is observed.
"There is a chair waiting for him... He has decided not to take part, we don't interpret (this) as his position when it comes to taking part in final negotiations," Eliasson told reporters.
Suleiman Jamous, another veteran rebel seen as a useful mediator should peace talks resume, is confined to a hospital in Sudan by the government AFP
A unified position for the fractious rebels was seen as yet another important step towards ending four and half years of deadly fighting in Darfur, a week after a landmark UN decision to deploy 26,000 peacekeepers there.
The eight rebel factions represented in the Arusha talks "presented a common platform on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, security arrangements, land and humanitarian issues, for the final negotiations", according to the final statement.
"They also recommended that final talks should be held between two to three months from now," the statement said, adding that the venue had yet to be determined.
The rebel groups also committed themselves to a raft of confidence-building measures to pave the way for final peace talks, including ensuring humanitarian access to Darfur, where the combined effect of war has left at least 200,000 dead since 2003.
The two top mediators in the talks, United Nations envoy Jan Eliasson and his African Union counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim, said they would travel to Khartoum for consultations with the Sudanese government in the coming days.
"We would want to see concrete commitment" from Khartoum to a ceasefire, Salim told reporters after the talks' closing session.
In the final statement, the rebel groups "reiterated their readiness to respect a complete cessation of hostilities, provided that all other parties make similar commitments".
Yet neither the rebels nor the mediators were willing to reveal the details of the rebels' position on power-sharing and wealth-sharing.
The conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region erupted when rebel groups complaining of political and economic marginalisation by the government in Khartoum took up arms.
A peace deal was signed with the government in Abuja in May 2006 but only one rebel faction endorsed it, sparking deep divisions and a new surge in violence.
Two key rebel players did not attend the Arusha talks, including the Paris-exiled founding father of the Darfur rebellion, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur.
He boycotted the meeting, arguing that the invited factions were illegitimate and that such consultations should only take place once a ceasefire is observed.
"There is a chair waiting for him... He has decided not to take part, we don't interpret (this) as his position when it comes to taking part in final negotiations," Eliasson told reporters.
Suleiman Jamous, another veteran rebel seen as a useful mediator should peace talks resume, is confined to a hospital in Sudan by the government AFP
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