The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said on Wednesday that not all rebel groups in the conflict-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur would be invited to the negotiating table.
UNMIS Spokesperson Radhia Achouri made the remarks when she replied a question concerning a newly established movement in the region which called itself Warriors of Truth and claimed it had 16, 000 fighters.
"Not everybody who takes up arms is going to be invited to the negotiations," Achouri told reporters at a press conference, accused some Darfurians of taking up arms in order to claim a seat at the negotiating table.
She added that the negotiations would bring together those "who are representative of the people of Darfur" and settle what was there to be settled for the good of the people of Darfur, not because of personal claims.
The special envoys of the UN and the African Union for Darfur, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim, proposed to convene a meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, on August 3-5 with leaders of the Darfur rebel movements which had not signed the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA).
The proposal was endorsed by an international meeting held in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday and Monday.
The meeting also concluded that invitations for the new round of negotiations should be issued by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Secretary General of the United Nations before the end of August 2007.
Achouri reiterated that the proliferation of the rebel groups in Darfur was definitely not helpful for the political process and the situation in the region as a whole.
Since the Sudanese government signed a peace deal with one of the three main rebel groups in Darfur in May 2006, the number of the rebel factions has increased to more than a dozen.
The Sudanese government has said that the Darfur peace could not be realized through negotiations with each of the rebel groups.
Source: Xinhua
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