Idris Deby accepts to participate in Sudan's dialogue process

African Union and Chadian president
Idriss Deby Itno has accepted an
invitation by his Sudanese counterpart,
Omar al-Bashir to participate in a
national dialogue conference.

The conference, slated for October 10
is scheduled to take place in Sudan’s
capital Khartoum.
“Chadian President Idriss Deby has
agreed to an invitation by President
Omar al-Bashir to attend the sessions
of the national dialogue,” Sudan’s
foreign ministry said in a press release.
Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim
Ghandour on Thursday met Deby in
New York on the sidelines of the
meeting of the 71st session of UN
General Assembly. Meanwhile, the
general secretariat of the Sudanese
national dialogue has announced
completion of all arrangements for the
conference.
In January 2014, al-Bashir declared an
initiative calling on the opposition
parties and the armed groups to join a
national dialogue to end the country’s
crises.
The sessions started in October last
year with the active participation of a
number of Sudanese political parties,
civil society organizations and some
Darfur armed groups.
However, major political parties and
armed movements have turned down
the invitation. Among others the
Revolutionary Front Alliance, which
brings together the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern
sector and the major Darfur armed
movements.
Their refusal is premised on the view
that a preparatory conference should
be held, according to decisions by the
AU Peace and Security Council and the
UN Security Council, to bring together
all the Sudanese political forces to
agree on procedures to initiate an
equitable dialogue with the
government, a demand that the
Sudanese government rejects.