Darfuri armed groups leave for US symposium

Representatives will be in Washington to discuss ways forward in the Darfur Peace ProcessRepresentatives of various Darfuri armed movements will leave for Washington on Monday to be part of the symposium organized by the US administration at the Institute of Peace.The workshop organized by the US administration and the Institute of Peace in Washington, which begins on November 15, will focus on ways to build peace in Darfur. Representatives of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi (SLA-MM), and the Doha Peace Agreement (DPA) signatory Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) will leave for the US capital on Monday.The Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) declared earlier this week that they would reject the symposium.A few representatives of the Darfur civil society, including four men and four women, will also be participating in the meeting. Mohammed Abdulla Duma, a Darfuri lawyer who will be attending the symposium, told Radio Dabanga, “I am hopeful that the workshop would contribute to the peace process in Darfur.”Government refuses participationThe Sudanese government maintained its stand of non-participation in the workshop but said it would welcome any positive results that emerge from it.El Obaid Ahmed Marawah, spokesperson of the foreign ministry of Sudan, said in an interview with Radio Dabanga, that the government had refrained from participating out of fear that the United States may deliberately open a new platform for negotiations over the Doha peace document.“We had kept the doors open for opposition groups to join negotiations for three months after the signing of the document, but they rejected it. The peace process is now recognized by international, regional and local bodies,” Marawah said.