Chad President meets with Darfur rebel leaders in Paris

The President of Chad held talks with leaders of the three holdout Darfur rebel movements in the French capital on Saturday evening.

In a joint statement after the meeting, Dr Jibril Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement, Abdelwahid El Nur and Minni Minawi, leaders of the two Sudan Liberation Movement factions, said that President Idris Deby urged them to seize the opportunity to participate in the National Dialogue, proposed by President Al Bashir early last year.

Both Ibrahim and El Nur told Radio Dabanga today that they are willing to participate in the dialogue if the demands of the opposition forces allied by the Sudan Appeal are met. They pointed also to the conditions set forth in the September 2015 road map of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front rebel alliance.

“Our priority lies with ending the fighting in Darfur, South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile, to restore a secure living situation and deliver relief to the needy,” Ibrahim said.

“In addition, a preliminary ceasefire could already produce a climate conducive to peace talks and a broad national dialogue, in case it is accompanied with the restoration of basic freedoms in the country. The National Dialogue should be preceded by a preparatory meeting abroad, in accordance with the AU Security and Peace Council resolutions 456 and 539.”

El Nur repeated his stance that his movement will not join any peace process, unless “the people enjoy a secure situation on the ground, after the ethnic cleansing, raping, and robberies are stopped, the Janjaweed have been disarmed and the new settlers evicted”.

‘Historic opportunity’

Dr Ammar El Sajjad, member of the General Secretariat for the National Dialogue and coordinator of the Freedoms Committee, called on the opposition parties and the armed movements to “give up their tactical stances concerning the National Dialogue”.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga he said that the National Dialogue represents “a historic opportunity that must be seized now Sudan is standing at a crossroads”.

He urged the opposition parties and armed movements to participate in the dialogue, that is scheduled to start in Khartoum on 10 October, “if only to witness the seriousness of the government concerning the matter”.