‘Qatar leadership should address root causes of Darfur crisis’: SRF

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) has stated that “partial solutions” mooted by initiatives of the Qatar government for rebuilding and developing Darfur “ultimately only lead to further aggravation of the humanitarian and the political crisis in the region”. In a statement on Friday, the SRF crisis management team told Radio Dabanga that “the current situation in Darfur requires the Qatari leadership to pause, re-evaluate and reconsider the nature of the Darfur crisis, its relationship to the structural crisis and the overall structural system in Khartoum”. “Qatar needs to recognise that it cannot handle the Darfur issue without addressing the root causes of the crisis,” the statement says. “Those root causes are products of the policies of the Khartoum regime, that wages war and commits genocide against the people of Darfur and other regions of Sudan.” The statement stressed that the rebel coalition SRF is willing to discuss the possibility of joint action with the Qatari government in efforts that lead the country in the direction of “a just and comprehensive peace and democratic change with the participation of all Sudanese partners”. The SRF called on the Qatari leadership to re-evaluate the political situation in Sudan. “The National Congress Party regime’s validity has expired. Sudan is on the threshold of decisive and comprehensive transformation,” the statement says. “Qatar could use its relations with all parties to reach a peaceful transition that spares Sudan high human and political costs and maintains the unity of Sudan on the basis of a democratic state of citizenship without discrimination,” the statement concludes. In April, Qatar, which has been at the forefront of attempts to broker peace in Darfur, hosted a donors’ conference aimed at raising funds for the development and reconstruction of Darfur within the framework of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD). At the conference, which raised pledges of $3.7 billion from around the world, Qatar itself pledged $500 million in grants and contributions for rebuilding Darfur. Photo: 7 April 2013, Doha: Left to right, Representative of the UN Secretary General in Sudan, Ali Al-Zatari, Secretary General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Ekmeleddin Ishanoglu, Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, First Vice-President of Sudan, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Tahni, Chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority, Eltigani Seisi Mohammed Attem, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Bekir Bozdağ, Secretary General of League of Arab States, Nabil Al-Arabi, and UNAMID Joint Special Representative, Mohammed bin Chambas, at the opening ceremony of the International Donors Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur, in Ritz Hotel in Doha, Qatar (Albert González Farran/ UNAMID) Related: Protests against Doha donor conference continue in Darfur (8 April 2013) $3.7 billion raised for Darfur projects in Doha donor summit (8 April 2013) Thousands protest against timing of Doha donor summit in Darfur (5 April 2013)