Sudan’s government pledges to provide guarantees for Darfur rebels to participate in the dialogue

Khartoum-SudaneseOnline-The head of Sudan’s Government delegation to the negotiations on Darfur, Dr. Amin Hassan Omar, has confirmed his government’s willingness to provide full guarantees for the leaders of Darfur rebel movements to participate in the national dialogue process which launched by Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir last January.
In an interview with Ethiopian T.V on Thursday, Omer stated that the objective of this round is to discuss the ceasefire in accordance with the proposal made by African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), but the armed movements inserted new agenda and topics that have been agreed upon previously in Doha
He added that ball is in the court of African mediation to conduct bilateral meetings with each delegation to reach an agreed agenda and then we can start negotiations immediately on the ceasefire in Darfur which would pave the way for the national dialogue to be successfully convened.
The head of Sudan’s Government delegation noted that there are other forums for negotiations on other topics, stressing that Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) was not made by Khartoum but it belongs to United Nations, the African Union and the Arabic League,
Earlier on Thursday, the two sides held their first direct engagement on cessation of hostility in the presence of the mediation.
Accordingly, both sides discussed and interacted on draft proposal presented by the AU chief mediator, but failed to bridge differences.
Conflict in Darfur, a region in western Sudan, which started in 2003 has killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced nearly two million.