Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Report from Sirte, Libya

Ben Eidelson

Rahama Defallah, Secretary General of Brooklyn’s 300-member Darfur refugee organization, the Darfur People’s Association of New York, sent a note on Monday about the peace talks in Libya, which he is attending. He sent a second note on Wednesday.

Monday, Oct. 29, 2007

Hi All,

The Ceremony for the peace talks was opened at 3:00pm local time by Libyan Leader Muammar Gadaffi, and was co-chaired by Jan Eliasson, the Special United Nations Envoy, and by Dr. Salim Ahmad Salim, envoy of the African Union. 
Also present were the United States envoy, the Secretary of the Arab League, the representative of the Islamic Conference, foreign ministers from Chad, Egypt and Libya, and representatives from the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Nigeria, the European Union, and many non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Seven of the Darfur Movements attended; some others are boycotting the peace talks.The Sudan government delegation was led by Nafi Ali Nafi, adviser to President Omar al-Bashir. This delegation included the head of Sudan Intelligence, Salah Gush, and others.

Also present were 13 people representing the civil society (civilians) of Darfur, including tribal leaders, students, women and youth.

After the first day’s Opening Ceremony, speakers urged all parties to show a sincere desire for peace talks and to get other groups and individuals to participate. 

But the speech given by Libya’s Gadaffi angered the ("rebel") Movements present because he said that, when final decisions are made, and published, in the future about details of peace agreements made in Libya, the ideas and value of current Movement-participants will not be given more weight in peace agreements/negotiated-settlements than ideas proposed in the future by Movements that now boycotted. For example, if Darfur land or government jobs are divided among Movements, the October Libya-peace-talk participants will not be given more land or jobs just because they attended the October session; and Movements that may attend future sessions will not be “penalized” in any way just because they did not attend in October. In other words, Movements that participated from the beginning of peace talks in Libya feel that they should “get credit” for having been more interested in the peace process, as proven by their having participated earlier than other Movements.

In the official statement by the Sudan government spokesperson, Nafi Ali Nafi, the government declared an immediate ceasefire but, the next day, attacked the Darfur village of Annka, an action not publicized in the media.

On the second day of the peace talks, the Movements delivered a joint letter expressing their common positions. They also asked for more time to bring other Movements to the peace-talk table, and to finish the consultations taking place in Juba among the Movements.

On Monday, the meetings were closed:  a team of mediators met separately with the Movements and with the Sudan government. I attended closed-door meetings with the Movements, which were positive and constructive.

There also was a very good meeting between the Movements and the delegation from the civil society of Darfur.

There will be more closed-door meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then, most likely, the peace talks will be postponed for two or three months.

As I am taking part in the closed-door meetings, I will be here in Sirte until Thursday. I know you all care abut the issue of peace, so I will update you promptly.

Rahama Deffallah

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Hi all

On Tuesday, at separate closed-door meetings by mediators with the Sudan Government, and with the Movements, discussions centered around two issues:
1) the timing for the Movements to be ready to participate in new or resumed centralized peace talks and 2) possible methods to bring Movement groups to peace talks who now are boycotting the talks in Sirte, Libya.

Everyone agreed to keep the Sirte meeting-site open for ongoing consultations as well as for workshops, with a permanent presence by representatives of the Sudan Government and of the Movements as well as a team of mediators. No significant activity is planned or expected to occur at this site when formal peace talks are not in session.

A delegation from the United Nations and the African Union is departing Libya to visit Juba, sites in Darfur, and other places for the purpose of convincing leaders of the Movements that boycotted the Sirte peace talks to now join the peace process.

The Movements present at the Libya peace talks proposed a one month time-frame after which peace talks in Sirte should resume. During this month, meetings and workshops now being conducted in Juba among most/all Movements are expected to finish, and the recent effort to unify the Movements within Darfur should have met with more success...which should lead to less boycotting of future peace talks.

The Movements present in Sirte agreed to notify their members of the proposed one-month-plan, to convince their members to agree with this plan, and to have their members nominate new negotiating teams to participate whenever peace talks resume in Sirte.  They also will consult the boycotting Movements about the value of resuming peace talks in Libya in one month. 

Rahama Deffallah