French parliamentarian delegation meets N. Darfur governor
April 2, 2017 (EL-FASHER) – A delegation from the French Upper House Sunday has met with the governor of North Darfur Abdel-Wahid Youssef and the Speaker of the state’s Legislative Council Essa Mohamed Abdalla in El-Fasher.
In press statements following the meeting, the head of the delegation Louis Duvernois said his country would work to rebuild the institutions which were destroyed by the war.
The French senator who is a member of the opposition The Republicans party added that France will also contribute to the reconstruction and development efforts in order to achieve peace and stability in Darfur.
“We discussed issues pertaining to peace and security in Darfur and we were honoured to meet the governor and the speaker of the legislative council,” he said.
Duvernois added the governor “informed us that peace has been achieved despite the limited resources”, praising plans developed by the government to improve the conditions of the IDPs and to achieve reconstruction and development in the state.
For his part, Mohamed said the governor has briefed the visiting delegation on the general situation in the region, pointing the security situation is stable and the IDPs are returning to their original villages voluntarily.
He added the delegation was also briefed on the government plan to collect illegal arms, saying they were reassured about the significant improvement in the security situation.
Mohamed further said the delegation told them that France would support peace efforts in the five states of Darfur.
It is noteworthy that a French delegation headed by the Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations Alexis Lamek Wednesday also met with North Darfur governor in El-Fasher.
The Sudanese army and its allied militia have been fighting a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.
UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in the conflict, and over 2.5 million were displaced.
(ST)