IDP leader calls for international community to remember Darfur crisis

The head of camps for displaced people in Darfur, Sheikh Ali Abdul Rahman Tahir has repeated calls for desperately needed security to return to the region, the expulsion of new settlers and for those responsible to be brought to justice. In an interview with Radio Dabanga, he said ‘displaced people demanded that the international community and the UN stop ignoring the Darfur crisis and treat it as urgently as other crises unfolding in the Arab world.’ He said ‘only a fair and comprehensive just peace will involve all parties, unlike the Doha agreement which only includes one party.’ The leader appealed to the head of the Darfur Regional Authority Tijani Sissi to abandon the Doha agreement as it does not meet the demands of displaced people or achieve peace on the ground. He described the UN/African Union Mission in Darfur as ‘incompetent’ unable to protect Darfuri citizens and in particular displaced people. He added that ‘the government is not serious about expelling new settlers many brought in from countries such as Mali and Niger, now farming lands belonging to the displaced.’ He asked for new settlers to leave the land and said such an act is against the law and religion.