Sudan: Rebels Reject Darfur Referendum

3 March 2011

Doha — Two rebel groups participating in the peace talks rejected today the organization of a referendum to determine Darfur status saying it means to undermine the Doha peace forum.

Upon his return from Doha on Wednesday, Sudanese presidential adviser in charge of Darfur file Ghazi Salah Al-Deen said his government based on Abuja peace deal will hold a referendum on the administrative status of the restive region within three months.

Recent proposals handed by the mediation to the government and the rebel Liberation and Equality Movement (LJM) failed to break the deadlock on the issues of Darfur status and the vice-president.

“We reject this step, which impedes the progress of peace negotiations in Doha, and transgresses clearly what has been agreed in the framework agreements and good intentions,” said a joint statement released by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and LJM on Thursday from Doha.

The rebels further said that the question of the region represents one of the most fundamental issues in the conflict which cannot be resolved by one-sided measures.

Speaking the Sudan Tribune, Tadjadine Beshir Niam, LJM chief negotiator urged the mediation to intervene to stop such violations of the signed agreements. He also urged the international community to put pressures on the government to halt the ongoing attempts by the Sudanese government to topple the Doha process.

“This is not the first time the government try to sabotage the process,” he added.

Ghazi said yesterday that the Doha process is one of different initiatives to end the eight year conflict. He was alluding to the Darfur Political Process (DPP) that the government intends to undertake in the troubled region with the participation of social forces and elected institutions.

Delegations from the government and the JEM agreed this week to start talks on a certain number of issues they determined including the disputed issue of power sharing.

The US envoy for Darfur Dane Smith arrived yesterday to Doha for talks with the parties on the peace process. Also the EU special envoy for Sudan Rosalind Marsden was there to tackle on the needed progress in the talks.

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