Sudan to Declare ’End to Darfur Conflict’
Local Editor
Sudan was poised to declare an end to 13 years of conflict in Darfur Wednesday despite deadlock in African Union-brokered peace talks and persistent fighting that has driven thousands from their homes this year.
President Omar al-Bashir was to make the declaration at a ceremony in the North Darfur state capital El Fasher to be attended by Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Qatar has hosted successive rounds of peace talks between the Arab-dominated Khartoum government and the ethnic minority rebels who took up arms in 2003.
Talks in the Qatari capital Doha in 2011 led to a peace deal with one small rebel faction -- the Liberation and Justice Movement -- and Wednesday's ceremony was to mark its implementation.
"Today, President Bashir will attend a celebration to declare that the Doha peace accord has been fully implemented in Darfur," the official SUNA news agency quoted North Darfur Governor Abdelwahid Youssef as saying.
Television footage showed crowds of thousands gathering for the ceremony, many of them carrying pictures of Bashir and the Qatari emir.
Khartoum has repeatedly sought to declare an end to the conflict in Darfur this year, claiming that an April referendum backing the current five-state division of the region turned the page.
But the vote, which was boycotted by the rebels, was widely criticized by the international community and in June the UN Security Council voted to extend the mandate of an 18,000-strong peacekeeping force which the world body runs jointly with the African Union.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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