Minni Minnawi, leader of a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), says his recent talks with the Sudanese government in Doha have failed.

His remarks cime after the Deputy Prime Minister and Qatari Mediator, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud and the Joint Special Representative/Joint Chief Mediator (JSR/JCM) and Head of the African Union-United Nations Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) Dr. Martin Uhomoibhi met in Doha with a team from the JEM and SLM movements from 30 to 31 May.

The Darfuri rebel leader said in an interview with Radio Tamazuj that the meeting failed because the Khartoum government and the Qatari mediator insisted that the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) be used as the basic framework for peace in Darfur.

He explained that the talks were aimed at looking for the position of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur within a comprehensive peace in Sudan. "But, unfortunately, the talks failed because the government and the Qatari mediator look at the document as if it is the Koran, it should not be modified but something could be added to it.”

He stressed that the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement rejected the position of the Sudanese government and the Qatari mediation on Darfur. According to Minnawi, they asked the Qatari mediator and UNAMID chief to hold further consultations in an attempt to bring the viewpoints closer.