Statement

issued by the Afro Arab Ministerial Committee on Darfur

(New York 24 September 2009)

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The Afro Arab ministerial Committee on Darfur convened a meeting in

New York, on September 24th 2009 co-chaired by H.E. Sheikh Hamad
Bin Jassim Al-Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the State of Qatar together with H.E. Amre Moussa Secretary
General of the League of Arab States and H.E. Mr. Jean Ping, President
of the African Commission.

The meeting was attended by the Foreign Ministers and

Representatives of Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libyan Jamahiriya,
Egypt, Morocco, Eritrea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Tanzania, South Africa,
Senegal, Congo, Nigeria, Uganda and by H.E. Mr. Djibril Bassole, the
Chief UN-AU Mediator, H.E. Ahmad Ben Abdallah Al Mahmoud, the
Qatari State Minister of Foreign Affairs and H.E.. Ramtane Lamamra,
the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security.

The meeting was also attended by H.E. Alain Le Roy the UN Under
Secretary General and H.E General J. Scott Gration the United Sates
Presidential Envoy for Sudan.

The participants reviewed the efforts deployed since the Committee's

last meeting in Doha on January 14th, 2009 to accelerate the resolution
of the Darfur crisis. In this context they listened to the interventions of
the Secretary General of the Arab League, the Chairperson of the
African Union Commission and the Joint AU/UN Mediator as well as to
H.E. Alain Le Roy the UN Under Secretary General and H.E General J.
Scott Gration the United Sates Presidential Envoy for Sudan.

The participants discussed the situation in the Sudan and reiterated

the importance of the solution of the Darfur crisis as well as the
smooth implementation of the comprehensive agreement and they
highly appreciated the effective cooperation and coordination between
the African Union and the Arab League to end the Darfur crisis and
stressed the following:

1- The committee supported the persistent efforts of the Joint

AU/UN Mediator and the State of Qatar to launch peace talks in
Doha by the end of October 2009, with the main aim of reaching a
final and comprehensive peace agreement for Darfur.

2- It welcomed the relentless efforts of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

and the Arab Republic of Egypt aiming at facilitating the
unification of the positions of the Darfur armed movements in
order to facilitate the Peace Talks.

3- It expressed its satisfaction with the reports issued by the United

Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), which refers
to the steady improvement of the humanitarian and security
situation in Darfur, as well as to the level of cooperation between
the Government of Sudan and the Arab League, the African Union
and the United Nations in this regard.

4- Welcomed the current smooth deployment of the UNAMID troops

and urged the international community to enable the mission with
the needed logistics necessary to meet its mandate.

5- It appreciated the positive and active role of the representatives

of the civil society in Darfur aiming at facilitating the holding of
the peace talks and strengthening the social fabric, and
emphasized the great importance of the civil society contribution
in the future peace talks and looks with appreciation to the efforts
deployed by the AU High Panel on Darfur led by H.E Thabo Mbeiki
aiming at providing a comprehensive and holistic approach to the
solution of the crisis in Darfur.

6- It appreciated the efforts deployed by the United states of

America, led the U.S. Presidential Envoy General Scott Gration,
aiming at facilitating the resumption of the Doha peace talks.

7- It called upon all the Sudanese parties to cooperate with the

efforts deployed to hold peace talks in Doha by the end of October
2009 and to shoulder their responsibility to enhance peace
prospects in Sudan as a whole to open the way for enhanced
reconstruction efforts.

8- It urged further coordination of regional and international efforts

to encourage the Armed Movements that are still hesitant to join
peace efforts and respond positively with a view to advancing the
interest of the country and creating an atmosphere conducive to
ending the current conflicts and difficulties.
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