World Peace Update: Arab League convenes to discuss UN bid, peace process

Maan News Agency: Arab League convenes to discuss UN bid, peace process: "Arab League officials will convene in Doha, Qatar on Thursday to discuss the next steps before September, the Palestinian president's spokesman said.

Nabil Abu Rdeina said Wednesday that the body's peace process follow-up committee would discuss supporting the Palestinian bid for recognition of an independent state at the UN General Assembly.

Future challenges in light of the impasse the peace process has reached and the Middle East Quartet’s failure to relaunch negotiations will also be on the meeting’s agenda, Abu Rdeina said in a statement.

The Arab League announced Tuesday that its ministerial committee on the Arab Peace Initiative would hold a meeting Thursday at the request Sheikh Hamad Ben Jasim, prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, who chairs the committee.

Deputy secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmad Ben Hilli told reporters that President Mahmoud Abbas would attend the meeting."

World Peace Movement Update: Darfur Peace Deal in Doha - Region - World - Ahram Online

Darfur Peace Deal in Doha - Region - World - Ahram Online: "'Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Doha this evening to attend the signing ceremony for a Darfur peace agreement ... between the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement,' Qatar's official QNA told AFP. The signing is due to take place at 1300 GMT on Thursday, but the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the main armed faction of Darfur, will be absent.

At least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and 1.8 million forced to flee their homes since the conflict broke out in 2003 between non-Arab rebels and the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime, according to the United Nations. The government puts the death toll at 10,000."