Dar es Salaam Declaration on reenergizing the peace process in Darfur
July 30, 2008 — We, the representatives of civil society groups, communities, intellectuals and opinion leaders from Darfur met at the Workshop on Reenergizing the Peace Process in Darfur: Civil Society Voice organised by the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre in cooperation with the East Africa Law Society and the Darfur Consortium;
Aware that our country, the Sudan, is facing a difficult and complicated phase in its history characterised by civil strife and violence which has caused immense suffering and destruction of lives and livelihoods and massive displacement of people especially in the Darfur region;
Recognizing that resolution of the political crisis in Sudan and ending the armed conflict in Darfur can only be achieved with courage and determination through political negotiations in a genuine process based on the basic and indispensible principles that uphold the values of the inherent rights of the people of Darfur to live in peace and dignity in a united Sudan and region;
Recognizing further that maintaining peace and stability in Sudan and Darfur requires additional efforts to uphold the rule of law, good governance, democracy, justice and accountability;
Mindful that the root causes that underpin the armed conflict in Darfur and the obstacles to the realization of peace in the region are the historical marginalization and discrepancy in the power and wealth sharing relationships in the country;
Deeply concerned that the human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur is very acute and dangerous and that millions of people in the region live in miserable conditions and that there is a serious threat of deadly famine which necessitates urgent measures to put an end to the suffering of the war affected communities;
Deeply concerned that the peace process in Darfur is currently at a deadlock and that additional efforts are required from all stake holders including the parties to the conflict, war victims, civil society and intellectuals from Darfur to reenergize the peace process in the region;
Recognizing the past and ongoing efforts of civil society groups inside Sudan and in the Diaspora in particular efforts of the Heidelberg Group, Concordis Group, the Jeddah Group and the Khartoum Darfur Intellectual Group in advocating a negotiated peaceful resolution of the armed conflict in Darfur and affirming our full support to the continuation of these efforts;
We hereby decide to:
1. Commit ourselves to work diligently for the attainment of just peace in Darfur and declare the launching of the People’s Diplomatic Campaign for peace in Darfur.
2. Intensify our contacts with the parties to the conflict in Darfur and other stakeholders as well as the regional and international community in a sustained effort towards peace and security in Darfur.
3. Once again call upon the Government of Sudan to demonstrate a strong political will in resolving the armed conflict in Darfur through genuine political negotiations.
4. Urge the armed movements in Darfur to crystallize their vision and unite their positions and to organise and commit themselves to engage in immediate political negotiations.
5. Call upon all the parties to the conflict in Darfur to reaffirm their commitment and full respect of the existing ceasefire agreements as agreed upon in the N’djamena Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement and the Abuja Protocol on the Enhancement of the Security Situation in Darfur.
6. Call upon the international community and the international and national humanitarian organisations to continue providing the necessary life-saving material to the war affected communities in Darfur and help in preventing the imminent famine in the region.
7. Urge all the parties to the conflict in Darfur as well as the African Union and United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to secure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the needy people in Darfur and to protect aid workers.
8. We further call on all the parties to the armed conflict in Darfur, the mediation team and all those concerned to make additional efforts to achieve the following objectives:
POWER SHARING
a) Darfur should have its share in all organs of the national government, the executive, judiciary and the legislative, including the presidential institution, consistent with its population percentage. This principle should apply to all regions and states.
b) Darfur should be one region with its 1956 borders within a federal republic of Sudan, having several states to be determined by the people of Darfur.
c) Any future peace agreement in Darfur should be part of the national constitution and that all relevant executive and other organs and institutions for implementation of such agreement should be established by law to be enacted by parliament.
d) The overwhelming majority of the people of Darfur do not recognize the 2008 population census because large parts of the region were not covered during this exercise. Demarcation of all electoral districts and constituencies in the region should, therefore, be based on the 1993 census and its projected growth rates.
WEALTH SHARING
a) Distribution of national revenues and allocation of resources should be on the basis of population percentage of all the states. All national projects in Darfur, such as national highways, railways, dams, electricity generation, agricultural projects, etc., should be the responsibility of the national government.
b) To reduce the gap in development an affirmative action programme should be applied to Darfur in all fields and that such a programme should include accelerated training, capacity building and education to enable the victims of the conflict in Darfur, especially women, to take up responsibilities in the post-conflict reconstruction and development.
c) Investment is an important component in development. To speed up development in Darfur, the region should have an independent Economic Development Agency to implement special development and investment policies.
LAND ISSUES
a) Land rights, use and control should be maintained and restored in accordance with the pre-independence historic Hakura system and a Land Conference on Darfur should be convened to promote understanding of the Hakura system.
b) Regulation of land ownership and usage should be the exclusive responsibility of the regional government, while the national government should retain the right to regulate mineral and oil exploration activities in accordance with an agreed upon formula.
c) Land currently occupied by foreign newcomers should be resitituted to its original owners and land allocated by the Government of Sudan for mechanised farming and large commercial and business enterprises should be revised.
RESTITUTION
a) Restitution, including reparations and compensation to groups and individuals and their dependents and descendants, within the framework of transitional justice is an inalienable right of the victims of the armed conflict in Darfur.
b) All the parties to the conflict in Darfur should reaffirm their commitment to the principle of restitution to the victims of the conflict. Such commitment should be translated into a restitution scheme to the full satisfaction of the victims. The responsibility of restitution falls on the Government of Sudan.
c) A special affirmative action programme should be introduced as a complementary measure to cater to the needs of groups of victims with special needs including women victims of sexual violence and their children, orphans, the handicapped and the elderly.
We express our thanks and gratitude to the Government and people of the United Republic of Tanzania, the organisers as well as to the Tanzanian civil society for hosting this Workshop.
Done at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Wednesday, 30 July 2008
1. General (Rtd) Siddiq Mohamed Ismail
2. Mr. Salih Mahmoud M. Osman
3. Mr. Adam Mohamed Hamid Elnahla
4. Mr. Ismail Kitir
5. Dr. Idris Yousif Ahmed
6. Mr. Mohamed Abdalla AL Doma
7. Mr. Zeidan Abdelrahim Yousif
8. Dr. Al-Waleed Adam Musa Madibo
9. Mr. Mohamed Eisa Alieu,
10. Prof. Abdelrahman Bushara Dousa,
11. Dr. Mohamed Ahmed
12. Dr. Abdelgabar Abdalla Fadul Ahmed
13. Mr. Khalil Mohamed Bakhiet Tukras,
14. Mr. Abdelrahman Mohamed El Gasim,
15. Mr. Hamid Ali Mohammed Nour
16. Mr. Faroug Adam Abakar
17. Prof. Abulgasim Seif Eldin Sameen,
18. Mr. Al Amin Mahmoud M. Osman
19. Ms. Nawal Hassan Osman Haroun
20. Ms. Fatima Mohamed Elhassan
21. Ms. Salwa Adam Beniya
22. Ms. Zahara Abdeln’im
23. Ms. Mariyam Eissa Ahmed
24. Ms. Safa Al Agib Adam
25. Dr. Firdous Abdurhaman
26. Ms. Samia Ahmed Nihar
27. Ms. Azza Mohamed Ahmed
28. Dr. El-Tigani El-Sesei
29. Mr. Omer Gamar Eldin Ismael
30. Mr. Mustafa Abdelkarim Mustafa
31. Dr. Adam Abdelmoula
32. Mr. Abdelbagi Abdalla Mohamed Jibril