Khartoum rejects proposal for Qatar mediator to join AUHIP mediation
The Sudanese government has rejected the invitation by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) for the Qatari mediation to join the mediation efforts by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) led by former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki.
Qatar played a leading role in mediation of the Doha Document or Peace in Darfur, which was signed by some armed groups starting in 2011.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Sudanese Minister of Information and member of the 7+7 national dialogue committee, Ahmed Bilal said they reject the unification of AUHIP and the Qatar mediation process and will not allow the armed movements to speak on behalf of the Sudanese people to discuss their national issues outside.
“We reject this, there are no movements that can speak on behalf of the Sudanese people and discuss the overall issues. We will not accept that,” said Bilal.
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) had announced their invitation for the Qatar mediator to join the African Union mediation efforts led by Thabo Mbeki in the next meeting with the mediator.
Bilal also disclosed that the dialogue initiated by the 7+7 committee with the political coalition dubbed “Future Forces” led by Ghazi Salahulddin al-Attabani has reached a long way to join the national dialogue.
Ahmed pointed that the meeting held by 7+7 committee on Tuesday discussed all arrangements to hold the general meeting of the national dialogue, adding that the committee will meet with President Omer al-Bashir to set the date for the general meeting.
“The meeting discussed all arrangements for the national dialogue. We are now discussing with the Future Forces and there are some 14 political parties,” he added.
Photo: Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Qatar Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud (center left), UNAMID Joint Special Representative Martin Uhomoibhi (center right), AU representative Ibrahim Kamara and Arab League Representative Salah Halima (far right). (Hamid Abdulsalam/UNAMID)