Qatar seeks to hold a ministerial summit in early August to seal an accord between Chad’s military government and opposition rebels on a national peace dialogue, negotiators said Sunday. The Gulf emirate’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani spoke with the Central African nation’s military leader, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, on Saturday, officials said. The Gulf state’s mediators will meet with rebel negotiators this week in a bid to sway holdout groups. “Qatar would like to get an accord settled this week so they can hold an international meeting soon,” said one negotiator. Deby took power in April last year after his father, longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a battle with rebels. The son promised to hold elections within 18 months, with a prevision for extending that timetable. Dozens of Chadian opposition and government officials have been in Doha since March to set the conditions for starting a national dialogue which would pave the way for a presidential election. The dialogue has been postponed several times, most recently on July 16 when a host of rebel and political groups withdrew, accusing the government of seeking to destabilise peace efforts. About a week later those groups said they were rejoining the process. Diplomats monitoring the talks say there has been progress and a majority of groups have agreed to sign an accord so that talks can start in Ndjamena on August 20. Those groups, however, are not the most powerful. The current document, seen by AFP, proposes a general ceasefire and gives security guarantees to rebel leaders who return for the N’Djamena talks. A special non-Chadian force would take care of security.