Gambari seeks British support

Meets UK officials in London to update them on the Darfur peace processIbrahim Gambari, head of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), sought British support for the peace process in Darfur on Thursday.Gambari met with senior British officials and presented an outline of the two-year peace process which resulted in the Doha Peace Agreement between the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) and the Sudanese government. The Doha peace deal was signed on July 14 2011.Gambari referred to the implementation of Doha document to be “on the cusp of making real progress.””The United Kingdom, as an important member of the international community, has a key role in moving forward the peace process in Darfur, especially in building support for the full and timely implementation of the Doha Document, while also persuading the hold out movements to join the peace process, making it both comprehensive and inclusive,” he said.The Doha peace document has been criticized for not being inclusive in nature as major opposition groups have refrained from participating in talks. The peace agreement is now in the implementation stage with the homecoming of the participating Doha delegates.Gambari stressed on the importance of early recovery and development activities to sustainable peace in Darfur: “There is the need to concretely address the challenges of early recovery and development, with the Government of Sudan and the United Nations Country Team in the lead, so as to bring the dividends of peace to the people of Darfur who have suffered for too long and too deeply,” JSR Gambari said.