Khartoum says Darfur rebel group to attend peace talks in Qatar

A Sudanese official Sunday announced that the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) will participate in the forthcoming peace talks with the Sudanese government on Nov. 16 in the Qatari capital of Doha, Xinhua reported.
   "JEM has expressed readiness to attend the peace talks after contacts and consultations made by the Joint United Nations and African Union Chief Mediator for Darfur Djibril Basole", said Head of Sudan government delegation to the peace talks, Amin Hassan Omer.
   In press statements in Khartoum Sunday, Omer expected participation of a number of Darfur movements in the coming talks, particularly the movements which decided, on October in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, to form a united negotiating delegation.
   "Despite the negative statements by leaders of some of the armed movements, positive developments have been made as a result of the regional and international mediation to achieve peace in Darfur, in particular with the efforts of Qatar, Libya and Egypt", he said.
   "The UN-AU chief mediator is making considerable efforts to convince all the Darfur armed movements to participate in the coming round of talks to find a lasting solution to the issue", he added.
   The Sudanese official further explained that Doha talks would be preceded by consultative meetings for resolving the Darfur issue to discuss how to involve the civil society in the coming round.