Sudan and Darfur’s most active rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) were due to sign an agreement yesterday paving the way for broader talks aimed at ending the six-year conflict in Darfur.
Qatar, which has been hosting peace talks between the rebel group and the Khartoum government for a week, announced the deal on Monday.
“There has been great progress ... and we now have an agreement,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told reporters.
The sponsors of the Doha talks — Qatar, the UN, the African Union and the Arab League — have stressed nevertheless that they are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace conference on Darfur.
“We hope to launch negotiations in two weeks on, among other things, a ceasefire and issues related to the exchange of prisoners,” said Sheikh Hamad, who is also Qatar’s foreign minister.
The most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups, the JEM boycotted a largely abortive peace deal signed by one other faction in 2006.
Last May, it launched an unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital.
According to the UN, 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region rose up against the Khartoum government in February 2003.
Details of Monday’s accord were sketchy, but it includes a prisoner swap, officials said.
“The two sides have committed themselves in principle to an exchange of prisoners, to be freed in successive groups between non peace in Darfur,” JEM delegation member Tahar el-Fakih said, Qatar’s QNA news agency said.
Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the Khartoum delegation, was quoted by QNA as confirming that “in principle ... there is a commitment to release prisoners and detainees for events linked to the Darfur conflict.”
Monday’s developments followed a long meeting between the heads of the two delegations, JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim and Nafie Ali Nafie, an aide to Beshir.
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters
Pets are not forgotten during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, when even Fido and Tiger get a place at the altars Mexican families set up to honor their deceased loved ones, complete with flowers, candles and photographs. Although the human dead usually get their favorite food or drink placed on altars, the nature of pet food can make things a little different. The holiday has roots in Mexican pre-Hispanic customs, as does the reverence for animals. The small, hairless dogs that Mexicans kept before the Spanish conquest were believed to help guide their owners to the afterlife, and were sometimes given
RSS