The opening session was addressed by HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani who urged the two parties not to miss “a chance for reaching a just and everlasting peace solution” in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur.
“Qatar will stand on equal footing with all parties involved in the Darfur peace talks,” the prime minister said.
“Our main aim is to stop bloodshed and join hands with the countries willing to help in the rebuilding of war-torn Darfur.”
The launch of the Darfur peace talks came as part of a Qatar-led initiative of African Union and Arab League to achieve peace between Darfur armed rebel groups and the Sudanese government.
The talks in Doha are the first negotiations to bring together the two sides since 2007.
Jibril Ibrahim, JEM top negotiator and adviser to the leader of the movement, said the delegation had presented its own vision of a frame agreement solution, which he said, required a “a high-level representation in the central government of Khartoum and the disbanding of the government backed militia”.
Ibrahim said the JEM would “retain its fighters for a transition period until a final peace agreement can be signed”.
For building confidence between the two sides, he called on the Sudanese government to release the rebel detainees as well as to stop blocking the humanitarian aid to refugees.
The head of the Sudanese delegation, Nafi Ali Nafi, who is the Sudanese president’s assistant, stressed that his government was open to all proposals that would help peace efforts. His delegation, he said, had “received positively to the draft frame agreement submitted by the UN-AU envoy Djibri Basole”.
The chief of the Organisation of Islamic Congress (OIC), Akmel al-Din Ihsanoglu, urged all the parties of conflict to “open a new page and listen to the voice of reason”.
