Pre-negotiations deal to be signed by Sudan govt, Darfur armed groups in Berlin

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) say that a pre-negotiation deal will be signed in Berlin on Thursday with the proviso that the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) will serve as basis for negotiations.

JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim announced at a press conference in Paris yesterday evening that the pre-negotiation agreement with the Sudanese government will pave the way for the resumption of peace talks.

Ibrahim said that the signing ceremony will be attended by the Sudan Revolutionary Front and the Sudan Call alliance.

The Berlin meeting was confirmed by Unamid Joint Special Representative Jeremiah Mamabolo, addressing a separate press conference in Khartoum this morning, in which he briefed the media on the status of the Unamid drawdown and exit strategy.

Wearing his cap in his other role as Joint Chief Mediator (JCM), to act as a catalyst in the implementation of the DDPD, Mamabolo said: “Peace in Darfur is our ultimate goal. I therefore continue to support President Mbeki’s African Union High Implementation Panel’s (AUHIP) efforts to bring the parties to the conflict to the negotiation table. The latest attempt being a meeting convened on 22-23 November in Addis Ababa with two Darfur non-signatory movements, Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minawi (SLA/MM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM-Gibril), which was to consider ways and means of expediting the pre-negotiation process and bringing the negotiations on the issues of Darfur back on track.”

Mamabolo added that “we will converge in Berlin soon where we would hopefully be able to sign a pre-negotiation agreement between the Government and the Darfur movements. If we are successful, the meeting in Berlin will be followed by a meeting in Doha to discuss substantive issues.

The agreement, brokered by the German government, says that the armed groups mat add further issues to the agenda of the talks and that a new independent implementation mechanism will be set up to enforce the would-be-signed deal.