Darfur displaced ‘not interested in Addis peace talks’

The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association is not interested to join the Sudan Appeal forces, according to Sheikh Younis Matar, Head of the Association's High Committee.

Matar contradicted rumours that the Association has decided to join the Sudan Appeal opposition group. 

“In our latest meeting at Kalma camp, we agreed that peace cannot be achieved if the demands of the Darfur displaced and refugees are not met. We will never accept any compromises,” he said. 

“We insist on the prosecution of the perpetrators of crimes against the people in Darfur, the disarmament of the government militias, individual and collective compensation for the displaced and the refugees, and the return of land to their lawful owners.”

The displaced leader called on “the Sudan Appeal forces and all the Sudanese people to push for a popular uprising that will eliminate the National Congress Party regime at its roots, because the idea of achieving peace through negotiations with the Khartoum regime is an illusion”.

The Sudan Appeal, a two-page political communiqué calling for regime change and the restoration of democracy, was signed by the Sudan Revolutionary Front (an alliance of the main rebel movements), the National Umma Party, National Consensus Forces (a coalition of opposition parties), and the Civil Society Initiative in Addis Ababa on 3 December 2014. Other Sudanese parties and civil society groups joined them in the following year.

The Sudan Appeal forces agreed to join two-tracks peace negotiations on Darfur and on the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile states) with the Sudanese government, under auspices of the AU High-level Implementation Level in Addis Ababa. No agreement was reached in the last negotiation round, between 9 and 14 August.