Sudan

Government and rebels sign good intentions accord

Article published on the 2009-02-17 Latest update 2009-02-18 11:45 TU

Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) representative Jibril Ibrahim (R) shakes hands with Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the Sudanese government delegation
(Photo: Reuters)

The Sudanese rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) signed an agreement of principle Tuesday with the country's government during talks in Doha, Qatar. The accord is designed to lead to broader peace talks to end fighting in Sudan.

Jem is the most active rebel group in the Darfur region and has not had contact with the Khartoum government since 2007. It boycotted an earlier 2006 Darfur peace deal.

"It is an agreement on goodwill and confidence-building for the settlement of the problem in Darfur. The government and Jem will continue discussing the framework for the negotiations as well as the negotiables,” says Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sudan's ambassador to the UN.

Negotiations will continue in order to finalise a peace settlement in a no more than three months, he told RFI, describing the prospective agreement as “the final one in which the ballots will talk and not the bullets".

The Sudanese government believes that Jem is serious about peace, Mohamad says, and Qatari, UN and African Union representatives will remain in contact with both parties in order to flesh out a time-frame for the preconditions.

Jem member Tahar el-Fakih says that the two sides have agreed to an exchange of prisoners in successive groups, with the Qatari news agency putting the number of government prisoners to be released by the rebels at 21.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said she saw no link between the accord and the possibility of an ICC charge against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir.