The move is unlikely to end a recent upsurge in violence in the region where mainly non-Arab tribes have been fighting the government for nearly a decade in a conflict the UN estimates has killed around 300,000 people.
But diplomats hope it will inject new life into Western and Arab efforts to mediate a peace settlement. Qatar last year brokered a peace deal between Sudan and one small rebel group, the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM).
Unlike previous failed peace deals, this agreement is open to other rebel groups to join and promises significant development aid. Qatar plans to hold a donor conference soon to kickstart development in Darfur to win over more rebels and choke off support for groups who refuse to lay down weapons.
Yesterday, a splinter group which broke off this year from the large rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said it would start peace talks with Sudan in Doha next month.
“We are committed to the Doha forum as a place, and the Doha agreement as a basis for future negotiations, but not as a final agreement,” the group’s vice president Arkou Suleiman told a news conference in Doha.
“There are still problems with (the agreement), particularly regarding refugees and internally displaced people. The security situation is also deteriorating,” Suleiman said.
Sudan confirmed it would start peace talks with the group, state news agency Suna said.
In contrast to the very small LJM, the new splinter group actually has fighters on the ground so their participation could help calm the situation, diplomats say. The new group split off from JEM, the most powerful military rebels.
JEM and other larger insurgent groups have so far refused to join the Doha process. The rebels accuse the government of political and economic marginalisation.
Fighting has recently picked up with gunmen killing five peacekeepers this month alone, according to UNAMID, the UN-African Union peacekeeping force.
Sudan’s government also faces insurgents in two states bordering South Sudan.
Rebels killed 10 civilians in shelling the main town in oil-producing South Kordofan state yesterday, the army said.
Sudan’s army has been fighting SPLM-North rebels in the state, which borders South Sudan, since June last year, shortly before South Sudan seceded. But the South Kordofan capital Kadugli was until recently kept out of the fighting.
Army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid told Reuters the rebels had shelled an army garrison outside Kadugli but that some shells had landed inside the town.
“The attack led to the killing of two children and eight civilians,” he said, adding that the army had launched an operation a few days ago to “cleanse” the area around Kadugli of rebels.
