Sudan govt, rebels ink ceasefire deal
2013-02-11 11:14
Doha - The Sudanese government signed a ceasefire agreement
with a faction of Darfur's far-west region rebel group the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM), state news agency QNA reported.
Under the agreement, the ceasefire took effect at midnight
in Doha, QNA quoted Qatar's deputy prime minister Ahmed al-Mahmud as saying.
The ceasefire deal "will pave the way for inking a
final peace agreement in Darfur between both sides", said Mahmud.
Two committees bringing together peacekeepers from the
African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid) as well as
representatives from Sudan, Qatar and the Arab League, have been formed to
oversee the implementation of the ceasefire, he said.
Mahmud announced that Doha will host "a donors
conference for the development and rebuilding of Darfur on April 7 and 8".
Qatar has for years been a key mediator in the Sudanese
crisis.
In July 2011, the Sudanese government signed a peace accord
with an alliance of rebel splinter factions, the Liberation and Justice
Movement.
The JEM - part of an alliance of ethnic-minority Sudanese
insurgents seeking to overthrow the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime - had
rejected the deal as failing to address any serious issues.
At least 300 000 people have been killed in Darfur and over
one million people have fled their homes since the conflict broke out in 2003
between non-Arab rebels and the Khartoum regime, according to the United
Nations.
