UNDP’s Jorg Kuhnel, Nada Amin and Margaret J Zimmerman at the media briefing on ‘Developing Darfur: A Recovery and Reconstruction Strategy’ in Doha yesterday.
By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter
The six-year recovery and development plan for Darfur will need about $7.24bn to meet both the social and infrastructural needs of the war-torn region of Sudan, UNDP officials said in Doha yesterday.
The media briefing on the ‘Developing Darfur: A Recovery and Reconstruction Strategy’ document was held in the backdrop of the International Donor Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur that is set to take place in Doha on April 7-8.
“Out of the total $7.24bn, the Government of Sudan has committed $2.65bn to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) over the next six years, leaving a donor requirement of $4.59bn.”
In order to ensure that the foundations for the longer term development within governance, economic recovery and reconstruction are well-laid, an estimated $177.4mn is required immediately from this total pledge, the UN agency representatives said.
Separately, the Foreign Ministry yesterday held a workshop in conjunction with the UNDP to explain the funding mechanism for international donor countries. Assistant Foreign Minister for International Co-operation HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohamed bin Jabor al-Thani was quoted by Qatar News Agency as saying that he hoped that the donors would contribute generously at the conference in April. “Without the support of the international community and donors, Darfur wouldn’t have been able to benefit from the humanitarian assistance going on for several years. The time has come for pressing ahead with reconstruction and recovery in Darfur,” he said.
After a decade of conflict and displacement, the 2011 DDPD had strengthened the peace process and laid the groundwork for recovery and reconstruction.
The Darfur Regional Authority, Government of Sudan and the international community have recognised the need to have a co-ordinated and comprehensive strategy for supporting peace and development in the region.
In accordance with the provisions of the DDPD, the Darfur Joint Assessment Mission was conducted in the latter part of 2012.
The Developing Darfur document presents an overview of the current situation in Darfur, articulates the strategy’s evolution and defines how it will be executed when funded.
Darfur has long been riven by conflict, misunderstanding and insecurity. According to experts, the underlying factors are complex and exist in local, regional, national and international theatres simultaneously.
Simmering tensions through the 1990s exploded in 2003, as self-defence groups militarised into armed resistance and initiated a significant conflict that would ravage Darfur over the next three years. This resulted in the internal displacement of an estimated 1.7 mn people, as well as a flood of 280,000 refugees, particularly non-Arabs from Western Darfur, into Chad .
The numerous, diverse circumstances contributing to the conflict necessitated an intricate and lengthy peace process, which began in N’djaména in 2003, continued in Abuja in 2006 and culminated in Doha in 2009.
Following months of intensive negotiations between rebel groups and the Government of Sudan, the second peace agreement of the overarching peace process was finally achieved in Qatar in July 2011: the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
While it is primarily an agreement between the Liberation and Justice Movement and the Government, the signatories have continued to call upon other actors and movements to sign the Agreement.