Darfur talks postponed
2009-10-15 11:31
Doha -Qatari-hosted talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels have been postponed until November 16, the UN mediator said on Wednesday.
Jibril Basoli told reporters in the Qatari capital Doha that he needed to head to Nigeria for a meeting of African Union leaders later this month called to consider a report on Darfur prepared by a high-level panel headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
"The main reason of delaying the negotiations is the peace and security summit that will take place in Abuja," he said.
"So on the 28th of October, I won't be able to be here in Doha to launch the process so we delayed it just to give us time to attend this meeting and to come back to Doha."
Mbeki did not go into details on the panel's recommendations when he handed the report to commission chief Jean Ping earlier this month.
Resolution of the conflict
But he said: "The resolution of the conflict in Darfur has to be brought about by the Sudanese people themselves and cannot be imposed from outside."
The most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement, agreed in May to resume the talks it broke off two months earlier when the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
But after a meeting with US Sudan envoy Scott Gration in September, the JEM said it was willing to discuss only an exchange of prisoners and the return of 13 aid organisations which Bashir expelled from Darfur in the wake of the ICC's decision.
Before negotiations broke off earlier this year, the JEM signed a February deal on confidence-building measures that was hailed by the international community. That deal marked the rebel group's first contacts with the government since 2007.
The United Nations says up to 300 000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003. The government says 10 000 people have been killed.
- SAPA