Sudanese govt. ‘keen on successful pre-peace talks’ in Berlin

Khartoum has expressed its hope that the informal consultations that started today in Berlin between the government and two non-signatory Darfur movements will be successful. One of the two movements has announced the defection of a number of its commanders to the government.

During talks between Presidential Aide Dr Feisal Hasan and EU Ambassador Jean-Michel Dumond on Sunday, Hasan said the government is very keen to go ahead with the pre-peace negotiations with the Darfur movements, as it aspires to make peace in Darfur and the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile states).

Ambassador Dumand expressed his hope that the dialogue in Berlin will lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities in Sudan so that the conflict-torn regions can achieve development.

The EU is a strong partner for the Darfur Development Strategy. “The EU is eager to see a change in our involvement in the region from one focusing primarily on vital humanitarian assistance to longer term sustainable development,” Dumond said in his speech at the review conference of the Darfur Internal Dialogue and Consultation (DIDC) in Khartoum in October last year.

In an attempt to revive the peace talks between the Darfur armed movements and Khartoum, the German government has invited the parties for informal consultations. AU-led negotiations with the Justice and Equality movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement faction led by Minni Minawi, collapsed as Khartoum insisted on the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur as the basis for the talks, while the rebel movements categorically reject this agreement signed by Khartoum and a coalition of Darfur breakaway groups.

Defected

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) announced on Saturday that a group of their commanders defected last week.

Jibril Adam Bilal, the movement's spokesman, said in a statement that the group was on a military mission, when “they disavowed their oath to the revolution, misled the young officers, the non-commissioned officers, and the soldiers [of the mission] and handed them to the regimes security apparatus”.

He said that Hussein Abdelrahman Arkuri led the defectors, together with officers Mohamedein Suleiman, Ibrahim Hashim Bashar, Mohamed Mousa, and Abdelazim Abakar Ibrahim.