(Photo courtesy of Mohamed Kamel Amr Facebook Page)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr attended the International Conference on Reconstruction and Development in Darfur hosted in Doha, Qatar. Speaking at the conference on Sunday, he expressed Egypt’s desire to continue supporting efforts to rebuild the conflict-torn region.
Kamel Amr published a statement on his official Facebook page on Monday morning, praising the Sudanese government for its “unremitting efforts to resolve the Darfur issue”. He also congratulated the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur rebel group, for signing a peace agreement with the Sudanese government on Saturday.
“Egypt has spared no effort to support any initiatives for the establishment of a comprehensive and lasting peace in Darfur”, said Kamel Amr. He stressed that “stability and development of Darfur is the only real guarantee for the return of refugees and displaced persons to their villages and towns”. He added that the return of the refugees “is the first step” towards ending Sudan’s problems as it will take “all sons to join in the struggle for stability and development”.
Kamel Amr outlined the assistance Egypt has provided in the past to help achieve peace, stability and development in Darfur including contributing to international peacekeeping efforts. Egypt has also sent 38 Egyptian doctors to the region since 2009 and has pledged to drill 40 water wells, 11 of which have already been completed, according to Kamel Amr.
The minister highlighted that Egypt will continue to cooperate with the Sudanese government in order to “identify projects that Egypt could contribute to”. He added: “Egypt is willing to enter into trilateral cooperation with other countries and donors to create power plants, schools and clinics”. Kamel Amr ended his statement, saying, “I hope that today is the turning point in finally closing the curtain on the Darfur issue”.
Representatives from Sudan came to Cairo in March and met with President Mohamed Morsi about the conflict in Darfur. Morsi expressed support for the reconstruction of the region and his desire to strengthen relations with Sudan.
In February the United States Department of State said that after ten years of conflict in Darfur the US was concerned over continuing violence in the region. It added that the ongoing conflict between government forces and rebels has “led to the deaths of nearly 300,000 people, the vast majority unarmed civilians”.
The conference began on Sunday and is expected to conclude on Monday.
