Qatar plans conference to end Darfur conflict
By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer Tue Oct 14, 4:02 PM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - Qatar plans to host a reconciliation conference to end the devastating conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, a Qatari minister announced Tuesday.
The bid reflects the Gulf state's desire to continue high-profile mediation efforts, following its success last May brokering a deal that ended a two-year political standoff between rival Lebanese factions.
Qatar's minister of state for foreign affairs, Ahmed Bin Abdallah al-Mahmoud, announced the plan after meetings at the Arab League in Cairo. He came to the Egyptian capital after a weeklong tour of Sudan.
Al-Mahmoud described his talks with Sudanese officials on the Qatari bid as "positive," but cautioned the conference would require extensive preparation.
Past efforts to bring Sudanese rebels to a peace conference with the government have failed.
"We are working to prepare an appropriate ground for the conference to bring it to a success," al-Mahmoud told reporters, adding no date has been set.
The Darfur conflict began in early 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against Sudan's Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination. Up to 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million have been chased from their homes since the fighting began.
The Arab League asked Qatar in July to spearhead a joint Arab effort to end the crisis.
The effort followed genocide charges raised against Sudan's President Omar el-Bashir by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Arabs hope that brokering a peace settlement in Darfur would halt efforts to bring el-Bashir to justice. On Monday, the Arab League said the genocide charges against Sudan's leader were not acceptable and undermine that country's sovereignty.
The United Nations and the African Union have welcomed Qatar's initiative for peace in Darfur. The two organizations have deployed some 9,000 peacekeepers in Darfur.
Key Darfur rebel groups so far have rejected efforts to negotiate a deal with Khartoum unless the government stops its violence against civilians in the region. Many of the worst atrocities in the war have been blamed on the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads allied with the government.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese government has announced its own, national unity conference on Darfur, to be convened Thursday in Khartoum. Darfur's rebel groups have refused to attend that gathering.
