KHARTOUM: After a decade of conflict it is time for Sudan’s Darfur to begin rebuilding, UN experts said ahead of an international conference to woo support for a development strategy worth billions of dollars.
About 400 delegates including representatives of aid agencies and governments from around the world will gather at a five-star resort in Doha on Sunday and Monday to endorse the strategy.
Critics worry that continued unrest in the western Sudanese region could hinder the effort, and donors have expressed concern about Khartoum’s restrictions on access.
“I don’t have great hope from this conference because there is no security on the ground,” said a civil society activist.
“Things in Darfur cannot happen with dreams.”
The conference was agreed under a July 2011 peace deal which Khartoum signed in the Qatari capital Doha with an alliance of rebel splinter factions.
Major insurgent groups rejected the pact, which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in January there had been only limited progress in implementing.
Delays can only make Darfur’s recovery more difficult, says a 155-page draft of the Darfur development strategy.
“There will likely never be a time when an ideal set of conditions for recovery is apparent in Darfur,” it says, seeking $7.2bn for a six-year effort to move the region away from food handouts and other emergency aid.
Pontus Ohrstedt of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said the root causes of Darfur’s conflict cannot be addressed by aid alone.
“So we really need to... help the people rebuild their lives and capacities to be self-reliant to stand on their own feet,” said Ohrstedt, who helped develop the plan with Sudanese officials and other agencies.
The strategy aims to lay the foundation for lasting development through improving water facilities, the road network and other infrastructure.
AFP
