Rebels absent as Sudan holds Darfur peace meeting

I thought this article was interesting beacause I dont hear too many people talking about Darfur and its bloody civil war anymore. I thought this article would be a good update.


By MOHAMED OSMAN
updated 4:58 p.m. CT, Thurs., Oct. 16, 2008
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KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudan's president opened a conference on the Darfur conflict Thursday with a call for a national vision for peace in the desert region, but his rebel foes stayed away, dismissing the meeting as a sham.
Rebel groups in the western Sudanese region said the three-day forum was only an attempt by President Omar al-Bashir to avoid prosecution by an international court where judges are considering a request to seek his arrest.
Up to 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million chased from their homes since ethnic African groups rebelled against the Arab-dominated national government early in 2003.
The chief prosecutor at the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court accused al-Bashir in July of orchestrating genocide in Darfur. Judges said Thursday they had given the prosecutor a month to provide more evidence before they decide on his request for an arrest warrant.
The meeting convened by al-Bashir brought together delegates from a dozen political parties and civic groups in Sudan. Representatives of the African Union as well as some of al-Bashir's foreign supporters, including Egypt, Libya and Qatar, attended the opening session.
Sudan's government said rebel groups were invited, too, but none showed up.
One group, the Justice and Equality Movement, called the forum a "desperate attempt" to garner support for al-Bashir, the first sitting head of state to face genocide charges at the international court. Another, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity, also said the initiative was just an attempt to "circumvent" justice.
Al-Bashir's government has been lobbying regional groups to support a U.N. Security Council motion to freeze the prosecution. There is no clear consensus within the world body on how to proceed.
Al-Bashir promised the gathering to bring back peace, set up fair and just trials, and commit $250 million for development in the region in the coming year.
"We insist on reaching a final solution this time, based on the initiative and a broad national consensus aiming for a just and comprehensive and permanent solution," al-Bashir said.
Alberto Fernandez, the U.S. charge d'affaires in Sudan, who attended, expressed hope the forum is a genuine search for change.
"If it is a true process, if this is the beginning of a true change, a substantive change in the way Darfur has been handled, then it will be supported by people. People will join, people will be eager to become part of it," he told reporters. "But there is a problem. The government lacks credibility because of the last five years. There is doubt in the minds of many people."
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Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.
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