DOHA/N'DJAMENA/NAIROBI — President Omer al-Bashir reiterated his support to the Qatari efforts to end the seven year conflict in Darfur, Amin Hassan Omar, government top negotiator said following a brief visit he paid to Doha on Thursday. Bashir was in the Qatari capital for talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani on the peace process to end the armed conflict in Darfur. Since September 2008, Qatar has been chosen as venue for the peace talks in Darfur after Libya's failure in 2007 to bring rebels to talks it had hosted. But, the joint efforts of Qatar and the AU-UN mediator seem bothered by continuous interferences from different countries and organisations. Sudan, through Bashir's visit has reaffirmed its support and confidence in the Qatari initiative to resolve the problem in Darfur and stressed its continuation with the Qatari venue, said Omar. Omer added Sudan has pledged to make the needed efforts in order to ensure its success, adding the talks tackled ways to enhance and accelerate the peace process. Sudan and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) signed a goodwill agreement one year ago in February 2009. However, as the government did not implement the agreement the rebel JEM suspended its participation in the process. Meanwhile, the Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged the international community to support a referendum to be held next year on southern Sudan self-determination adding Kenya is committed to outcome of this popular consultation. Odinga remarks supporting southern Sudan independence come following statements by the chiefs of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping and the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon on the need to preserve Sudan's unity. Following a protest letter by the President of southern Sudan government to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon, the UN said Ban was supporting efforts to make unity attractive. "I strongly urge the entire international community to pursue a similar course and offer maximum assistance in implementing the referendum's outcome, whatever it might be," said Raila on Thursday. In another development, Chad's President Idriss Deby said on Thursday he would travel to Sudan next week for talks, his first visit there in six years of rocky relations between the two oil-producing rivals. Chad and Sudan have repeatedly traded accusations of supporting each other's rebels, which are mostly based along their remote shared border. "Chad wants to live in perfect harmony with all its neighbours. I will travel on February 8 to Khartoum for talks with (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir," Deby told a group of parliamentarians from Francophone countries, in comments broadcast on Chadian radio. On the other hand, reactions to Wednesday's International Criminal Court (ICC) appeal of genocide charges against Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir range from a broadside against the US government by Sudan's Foreign Ministry, to measured comments from members of the American anti-genocide community. In Khartoum, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ambassador Mu'awiya Uthman Khalid blamed Washington for slowing the peace process by sending “negative signals at all times.” He singled out the Save Darfur alliance of American anti-genocide organisations, which he accused of directly hampering the peace process.
