Qatar is set host a meeting between Libya-based Darfur fighters and the Sudanese army in its capital Doha in early March in a bid to facilitate the former’s return to Sudan, Africa Intelligence reported on Wednesday.
The reported meeting in Doha will take place under the auspices of French non-profit organisation Promediation, after previous meetings between fighters from the “Democratic Path Forces” coalition and the Sudanese military.
Africa Intelligence added that the sides are “expected to put the finishing touches to a political and security roadmap”.
No Qatari official publicly commented on the matter.
The latest report comes after the same news outlet claimed last month that a Qatari delegation led by Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution Dr. Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani visited Niamey.
During the meeting, the Sudanese army officials were joined by a delegation of the police and the National Intelligence and Security Service.
However, there was an absence of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Dagalo, also known as Hemeti, though the group is reportedly attending the talks in Doha.
The parties are also those involved in the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, signed in the presence of Qatar, Chad, Egypt along other international partners.
While several groups signed the agreement, two key movements did not ink the deal. The groups are the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).
According to Africa Intelligence, there are between 6,000 and 10,000 Darfurian fighters in Libya with the United Nations previously warning of the link of the presence of armed groups in the country to its instability.
“Most Darfurian armed groups continued to work for the Libyan National Army in Libya during the reporting period [2021], securing areas and manning checkpoints. In return for these tasks,” the UN experts said last year.
Last year, a number of rebel groups in Libya inked the “Democratic Path Forces” for peace in Sudan. A meeting in Niamey also took place in June last year under the auspices of Promediation.
Darfur faced a brutal war in 2003 in which at least 300,000 people were killed and around 2.7 million were displaced, per figures shared by the UN.
Qatar’s mediating role in Darfur goes back years.
In 2011, Doha sponsored a negotiation process that resulted in the Darfur Peace Agreement. The talks brought together the government of Sudan and the armed movements.
Then in 2013, it hosted the International Donors Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur, where the country pledged to raise $7.2 billion to help rebuild the conflict area over a period of six years.
