Ruling party figure Ghazi Salah Al Din visits Darfur, outlines priorities

A senior ruling party official said that improving security is the government’s top priority in Darfur at this stage. Dr. Ghazi Salah Al Din, the top national official for Darfur, held meetings in El Fasher and Nyala on Tuesday. In line with a presidential decree issued on 26 July, Ghazi is continuing to head government efforts to solve the Darfur problem. He now chairs a ministerial-level committee tasked with negotiating a peace deal and implementing certain domestic policy in the region.Ghazi said in meetings Tuesday that the current priorities of the government’s strategy to address the Darfur problem are first security to accelerate the voluntary, safe return of the displaced, and second the establishment of development projects for sustainable livelihoods for the citizens in Darfur. He said that secondary priorities include the application of justice through national mechanisms, the restructuring of humanitarian operations to reduce relief aid and transition to development aid, and the conclusion of a final peace agreement through negotiations. Dr. Ghazi, who is now in Darfur, said the new vision for addressing the Darfur issue goes beyond the question of a political settlement and negotiations. The new strategy is broader and more comprehensive, he said.

For his part, Dr. Tijani Sese, president of Liberation and Justice Movement, strongly criticized the new strategy of the government to achieve peace in Darfur. Sese said that this course will not lead to peace in Darfur and will instead complicate the problem. Sese is the leading rebel figure currently engaged in negotiations with the government. He said that the policy would distort the peace process in Doha and weaken this forum, in effect dissolving the just and legitimate demands of the people of Darfur.

Photo: Ghazi Salah Al Din (Republic of Sudan, website of the Humanitarian Affairs Commission)