Government, armed groups agree to allocate 20% of Sudan civil service for Darfur
February 24, 2020 (JUBA) – Sudanese government and Darfur armed groups said they agreed to allocate 20 per cent of the jobs in the civil service to the western Sudan region.
The negotiating teams from the transitional government and Darfur groups announced they reached a deal on the employment of Darfurians in the civil service which is part of the power-sharing in the peace talks.
Mohamed Hassan al-Taishi told reporters in Juba that the two parties agreed to address the underrepresentation of Darfur people in the civil service.
He stressed they agreed to establish two mechanisms, the first will study the causes of the historical imbalance in the representation of Darfur and ways to address it. While the second will address the short-term imbalance through positive discrimination.
“We have agreed on time limits and specific criteria for the implementation (of this affirmative action). Also, we agreed to allocate 20% of the civil service to the sons and daughters of Darfur,” he added.
Darfur people complain of the underrepresentation in the public service saying it is controlled by people from the centre and north Sudan who have more opportunities for education than the other regions.
For his part, Ahmed Tugud who is the spokesperson of Darfur groups described the agreement as “a positive understanding on a very important issue and one of the causes of the long conflict in Darfur”.
“We have made remarkable progress in the negotiation process and we will continue discussions on the other issues,” Tugud further said, expressing hopes to reach a comprehensive peace agreement before the end of the three weeks extensions on 6 March.
(ST)
