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Africa Horn | |||
Sudan to release 24 Darfur detainees before talks | |||
2009-02-22 | |||
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The Sudanese government will release 24 detainees involved in the Darfur conflict as a goodwill gesture before planned peace talks with rebels, the country's justice minister said Saturday.
Last week was the first round of negotiations between the government and rebels since 2007. But only JEM took part, casting doubt over how far the talks can go in dealing with the conflict, which includes several rebel groups. Qatar has been mediating the new talks. Saturday's announcement comes after Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, met with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa Al Thani, in Khartoum. Justice Minister Abdel-Basset Sabdarat said al-Bashir decided to pardon the 24 prisoners "in support of the Qatari initiative." He did not identify the prisoners. JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein said it was not yet clear if those to be released are even members of the rebel group.
Those absent from the talks in Qatar said they were designed to offer al-Bashir a way out of an expected arrest warrant by an international court for war crimes in Darfur. The Hague, Netherlands-based International Criminal Court is expected to make a decision within Sudan's powerful intelligence chief Salah Abdallah warned a warrant against al-Bashir may revert Sudan into a hard-line Islamic regime. "Our message to those who stand behind the ICC is that we were Islamic fundamentalists but have become moderate and civilized and this continues to be our conviction," Abdallah said in comments published in Saturday's newspapers. "If they press us to return to our past position, we will no doubt return. And if they want us to return into hard-liners anew ...we are capable of doing it."
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Posted by:Steve White |