Darfur peace document ‘not open to negotiation’

The chairman of Darfur Peace Follow-up Office, Amin Hassan Omer, has affirmed that the Sudanese government will not agree to review any clauses of the Doha Document for Peace (DDPD), stating that the current document is not open to negotiation.

The government stressed that “the DDPD will never be subjected to revision and that its chapters will not be issue for repeated negotiations”, emphasising that “the agreement has already become part of the Sudan 2005 Constitution”.

In an interview with official Sudan News Agency (SUNA), Omer, affirmed that “we will not revise or re-open negotiation not even on a single clause in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur”.

He described the demand of some elements of Darfur movements for re-opening negotiation on the Document as “illogical and lacking reason”.

He said “these elements are speaking about revision because they know that there is no evident issue in their minds.

“The DDPD has become part of the Constitution; therefore any amendment in its clauses necessitates returning it to the Parliament.

Responding to a question on the role of the African Union Mediation (AUHIP) on theDDPD, Omer said that the AU mediation will not be a party in a completed document, but he welcomed a role of the AU mediation as a facilitator as included in the roadmap, provided that these elements of the armed movements shall sign the roadmap of the African mediation.

El Mahdi

Omar has described preconditions put by the chief of the National Uma Party, Imam El Sadig El Mahdi, while in Johannesburg, South Africa on the signing of the AUHIP roadmap, as being “a step backwards” and “provides nothing forwards in the peace march”. He said, however, that “if El Mahdi wants to join the peace process then the door remains ajar for him to come in”.

At a meeting with AUHIP chief mediator, former South African President Thabo Mbeki in Johannesburg on Thursday, El Mahdi said that in order for the hold-out rebel movements to sign the AUHIP roadmap, “there should be available guarantees for the implementation of the national dialogue outputs.

“The national dialogue, which will take place inside the country, should be after the implementation of confidence-building measures that should be mutually chaired, not subject to the manipulation of any party.”

Dissolution DRA

Sudan’s First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Saleh and Dr El Tijani Sese Chairman of Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), have discussed the dissolution arrangements of the DRA after July 15. Sese told reporters in Khartoum on Tuesday that he has presented the recommendations and the final statement of the Social Peace Conference held recently in Nyala.

Sese said that an important recommendation concerned the disarmament of citizens to extend the prestige of the state, and to activate the role of the civil administration to promote social peace after the reconciliations that took place in the last period to Darfur.