Al Mahmoud Chairs Meeting of Follow-up Committee for Darfur Peace

El Fasher, Sudan, January 16 (QNA) - HE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud presided over the second meeting of committee for the follow up of implementation of Doha Document for Peace in Darfur in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. The meeting was attended by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, head of UNAMID mission and African Union and United Nations joint mediator, Dr Tijani Cisse, head of Darfur regional authority and head of the Liberation and Justice Movement, and State Minister at the Sudanese Presidency Dr Amin Hassan Omar, who is also head of the Office of peace follow-up in Darfur, as well as the Governor of North Darfur state Othman Kabeer and representatives of a number of permanent members of the Security Council in addition to representatives from neighboring countries, regional and international partners. At the beginning of the meeting, HE Al Mahmoud said holding the meeting in the city of El Fasher meant to clearly indicate the restoration of peace, security and stability in Darfur and to highlight that everyone is on right track to establish just and comprehensive peace in this region so that the people of Darfur enjoy security, stability and development. His Excellency said that the meeting tackled what had been achieved recently including the signing of the agreement and discussed the future steps. "We, in this committee, do not ignore the importance of the process of building peace in Darfur. As you know, this process requires some time to build relationships and achieve the values of reconciliation, justice and goodness." Building this process means more than just putting an end to violence, Al Mahmoud said. "Our endeavors at this stage should focus on what can be achieved in the short term so as to create conditions for peace-building in the long run." HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs urged all parties to reconsider the existing peace process in order to fulfill their pledges made under the agreement in a realistic way and through intensive consultation among themselves. He added "we consider that successful implementation of the agreement was enforced only when fighting is stopped completely and everyone was sure that the conflict will be renewed. We are now on the way to that and will reach it soon." Al Mahmoud noted that the Doha peace agreement on Darfur has included commitments by concerned parties, and the steps that are highly important in the short term should be defined. Of the most important steps is seeking to talk those who carry arms into convincing them that they will have a promising future in peace and will be assimilated in society, Al Mahmoud explained. He insisted that disarmament must not be relegated to a second priority, underscoring the importance of the efforts of the joint committee which has been looking into the conflicts being reported by the ceasefire commission. He urged parties to abide by the terms of the ceasefire and called for convincing the groups which had not signed the Darfur agreement to do so immediately as the peace process is one entire whole. He added that there was room for all groups to join in the agreement in order to restore peace and development to the province. Al Mahmoud said it was now important to create an environment conducive to peace and to exercise all other support efforts in order to realize an early revival of the villages and to encourage refugees to return home and to provide the basis services of water and electricity. Qatar, he noted has helped in plans and in starting to carry out several relevant projects and urged international donors to carry out their share in meeting the urgent needs such as the repatriation of the refugees and the displaced persons. He said a donor conference might be held to muster international support for the province to help carry out the Doha peace accord. Al Mahmoud said all local potentials in Darfur must be mobilized in the transitional period and urged all political and social powers to encourage putting the agreement into force and to seek co-existence in the shade of development in the province. He called upon international partners in peace in Darfur to lend their full support to UNAMID troops to help advance peace efforts in Darfur(QNA)