Leaders of Qatar and Chad to visit North Darfur on Wednesday

September 2, 2016 (EL-FASHER) – Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, Chadian President Idriss Deby and the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will arrive in North Darfur capital, El-Fasher on Wednesday to attend celebration marking completion of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).

The DDPD was signed on 14th July 2011 between the government and the Liberation and Justice (LJM). Also, a splinter faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Mohamed Bashar and Bakheit Dabajo after his death joined the framework agreement on 6 April 2013.

Sudanese government had invited Deby and Tamim to attend the celebration which was originally scheduled to take place on July 20th, however it was abruptly postponed without giving reasons.

Chairman of high reception committee Mohamed Kamal al-Din Abu Shouk told Sudan Tribune on Friday that large popular and official crowds from all North Darfur localities would receive the three leaders in El-Fasher.

He described the upcoming visit as historic, underlining that the event would move Darfur to a new phase of peace, development and stability.

Abu Shouk further hailed efforts made by Qatar to support peace and stability in Darfur, calling on the international community to support Sudan’s government plan to collect illegal arms in the region.

In June 2016 following a meeting of the High Committee for Peace in Darfur chaired by President Omer al-Bashir, the Sudanese government announced the dissolution of Darfur Regional Authority and Darfur Peace Implementation Office.

The said meeting decided to establish an administration attached to the Presidency of the Republic, to run the activities of the DRA five commissions.

However, the meeting agreed to maintain the High Committee for Peace in Darfur headed by al Bashir and the International Committee for DDPD Implementation Follow-Up headed by Qatar.

The Darfur Regional Authority was established in line with the DDPD.The regional body had a four-year mandate to implement the framework peace document. However, the DRA term was extended up to July 2016, by a presidential decree in 2015.

END OF DRA AND DARFUR PEACE OFFICE

Meanwhile, the head of the DRA Tijani al-Sissi said that a Qatari delegation has arrived in Khartoum on Friday as a prelude to the visit of Tamim.

Al-Sissi, who spoke at a talk show broadcasted by the public Radio Omdurman on Friday, said the DDPD has achieved peace and stability in Darfur because it addressed the issues pertaining to the region and the whole country.

“We wouldn’t open any other [peace] documents and we recognize that the armed movements are divided and Sudan can’t be hold captive to these splits,” he said.

He pointed that more than 815 projects have been implemented in Darfur, describing it as major social and development achievement.

For his part, the chairman of Darfur peace follow-up office, Amin Hassan Omer, announced the end of his office mandate, saying the work of the DRA five commissions would be carried out by a minister from the presidency.

He pointed to unnamed regional parties that don’t wish Sudan to achieve peace particularly at this time, saying that South Sudan is ready to drive out Sudanese reel groups from its territory.

Omer described his country’s relations with Qatar as strategic, saying Doha paid his government $2 billion following the secession of South Sudan to rescue its economy which was hit hard after the newborn nation took with it %75 of the oil revenue.
He also descried Sudan’s ties with Chad as special and important.

(ST)