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United Nations & Sudan
President of Sudan Omar Al Bashir, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa, Head of Darfur Transitional Authority and Senior Assistant to the President Minni Minawi, Presidential Advisor, Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen It is my great pleasure and privilege to attend this donor conference in my new capacity as SRSG for Sudan . Speaking on behalf of the United Nations' system, I would like to commend the interest and commitment of the Arab League in supporting humanitarian operations in Darfur and to thank the Government of Sudan for coordinating such a timely initiative. The humanitarian operation in Darfur remains an enormous challenge to humanitarian actors. Positive collaboration and coordination between the Government of Sudan and the humanitarian community has been an important element in ensuring a sustained and timely response to humanitarian needs. The recent Communiqué between the Government of Sudan and the United Nations on the occasion of the visit of the Secretary General to Sudan reaffirmed the partnership between the humanitarian community and the Government of Sudan in ensuring the delivery of essential relief and recovery assistance to those in need. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the humanitarian community to this partnership and to implementing a coherent and united response based on assessed needs of the vulnerable populations. A good example of this partnership is the close collaboration between the Government, UN and partners on the development of the “2008 Sudan Work Plan”. This plan outlines the key humanitarian and recovery needs and corresponding activities throughout Sudan and can hopefully inform and guide your commitments to assisting humanitarian operations in Darfur . The humanitarian community remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian suffering and insecurity in Darfur . Continued displacement, ongoing insecurity and limited humanitarian access continue to challenge the humanitarian operation and our ability to respond to the urgent needs of beneficiaries. The signing of the Joint Communiqué between the Government of Sudan and the United Nations on the facilitation of humanitarian activities in Darfur in which the Government of Sudan reaffirmed its commitment to support, protect and facilitate all humanitarian operations in Darfur has thus been an important step forward. A successful humanitarian response is dependant on widespread respect for the basic humanitarian principles of impartiality, humanity and independence of humanitarian actors, and I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all parties involved in the conflict to adhere to these principles. In particular, given the high numbers of internally displaced persons in Darfur , I would like to draw attention to the rights of the vulnerable and the displaced. We all have a commitment to ensure the rights, guarantees and needs of displaced persons are recognized and to protect vulnerable populations from forced displacement or relocation. the implementation of these principles is critical to the success of humanitarian efforts in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan . While current needs on the ground require humanitarian activities to remain a priority, we recognize that peace can only be sustained by an inclusive political process and an improved security situation complemented by effectively implemented recovery and development programs. We thus welcome the ongoing peace talks in Sirte , Libya , and hope they will pave the way for an increased focus on recovery activities at the community level to facilitate a sustained momentum towards peace. Our collective humanitarian efforts in Darfur should however be seen in the wider context of Sudan as a whole. Sustained peace throughout Sudan is the key to ending the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and to moving towards a more holistic goal of recovery and development throughout Sudan . I thus welcome the support of the Arab League in moving towards this goal and reiterate the commitment of the United Nations to supporting peace and stability throughout Sudan . 