Darfur Peace and Development

August 20, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The high-level African Union Panel on Darfur (AUPD) led by the former South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to arrive in Khartoum on Saturday.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki (Reuters)

The panel, established last February in response to the imminent issuance of the ICC arrest warrant for the Sudanese President, aims to determine how best to quickly end the conflict and expedite the peace process to create conditions conducive to promote justice, healing, and reconciliation.

The director of the African bureau at the foreign ministry, Ambassador Ibrahim Ahmad Abdel-Karim, said in a press statement, that the AUPD will meet a number of Sudanese officials, organizations of civil society and Darfur rebel groups.

The panel was supposed to submit its final report to the African Union Summit convened in Sirte, Libya last July but it demanded a two month-period to complete their contacts and to draft the final report.

Last June the eight-member commission held a series of meeting in Khartoum and Darfur to listening to Darfurians and other stakeholders in a bid to determine a route to an effective peace process.

In July, the AU summit held in Libya issued a resolution saying that its ICC members will not cooperate with the court in the apprehension of President Omer Al-Bashir though states such as Botswana announced they will not abide by this decision.

Following this AU decision, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement said severed contacts with the panel and cancelled a meeting with its members. The rebel movement said it would not deal with the commission. However, recently JEM said it might reconsider its position.

(ST)