Doha talks postponed again
The Doha dialogue has still not reached its core. The 72-hour suspension, which was decided on Sunday 13 March, was extended to Wednesday 16 March by 48 hours. The political-military groups have not yet managed to agree on a list of 10 delegates responsible for representing them in the negotiations. The plenary session that was to take place was therefore adjourned.
With our special correspondent in Doha, Florence Morice
The representatives of the political-military groups still got up early on Wednesday morning to continue their consultation. But by the time decided for the plenary, the desired consensus on a list of 10 delegates had not yet been reached. In this context, qatar decided in the morning to postpone to give them another 48 hours.
Several factors complicate internal discussions to armed groups. First, the number of stakeholders: 52 groups are present among those identified by the preparatory committees. Many condemn this figure as artificially inflated by the authorities in Ndjamena. But today they have to come to terms with this reality.
Added to this is the fact that these groups do not all have the same agenda. Some have few conditions for their participation in the dialogue planned in Ndjamena and do not want to risk others blocking a potential agreement in Doha. Conversely, with many conditions, they do not want to risk having their voice watered down in a deal they fear “frontage”.
Result: several times a day, sessions are canceled, time to calm things down. But the discussions continue.