Dar es Salaam Declaration on Reenergizing the Peace Process in Darfur

We, the representatives of civil society groups, communities, intellectuals and opinion leaders from Darfur met at the Workshop on Reenergizing the Peace Process in Darfur: Civil Society Voice organised by the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre in cooperation with the East Africa Law Society and the Darfur Consortium,

Aware that our country, the Sudan, is facing a difficult and complicated phase in its history characterised by civil strife and violence which caused immense suffering and destruction of lives and livelihoods and massive displacement of people especially in the Darfur region;

Recognizing that resolution of the political crisis in Sudan and ending the armed conflict in Darfur can only be achieved with courage and determination through political negotiations in a genuine process based on basic principles that uphold the values of the inherent rights of the people of Darfur to live in peace and dignity in a united Sudan and region;

Recognizing further that maintaining peace and stability in Sudan and Darfur requires additional efforts to uphold the rule of law, good governance, democracy, justice and accountability;

Mindful that the root causes of the armed conflict in Darfur and the obstacles to the realization of peace in the region are rooted in the historical marginalization and discrepancy in the power and wealth sharing relationships;

Deeply concerned that the human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur is very acute and dangerous and that millions of people in the region live in miserable situation and that there is a serious threat of killer famine which necessitates urgent measures to put an end to the suffering of the war affected communities;

Deeply concerned that the peace process in Darfur is currently at a deadlock and that additional efforts are required from all stake holders including the conflicting parties, war victims, civil society and intellectuals from Darfur to reenergize the peace process in the region;

Recognizing the past and ongoing efforts of civil society groups inside Sudan and in the Diaspora in particular efforts of the Heidelberg Group, Concordis Group, the Jeddah Group and the Khartoum Darfur Intellectual Group in advocating a negotiated peaceful resolution of the armed conflict in Darfur;

We hereby decided to:

1. Commit ourselves to work diligently for the attainment of peace in Darfur and declare launching the People Diplomatic Campaign for peace in Darfur;
2. Intensify our contacts with the parties to the conflict in Darfur and other stakeholders as well as the regional and international community in a sustained effort towards peace and security in Darfur;
3. Once again call upon the government of Sudan to demonstrate a strong political will in resolving the armed conflict in Darfur through political negotiations;
4. Urge the armed movements in Darfur to unite their vision and position organise and commit them to engage in immediate political negotiations;
5. Call upon all the parties to the conflict in Darfur to reaffirm their commitment and full respect of the existing ceasefire agreements as agreed upon in the N’djamena Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement and the Abuja Protocol on the Enhancement of the Security Situation in Darfur;
6. Call upon the international community and international and national humanitarian organisations to continue providing the necessary life-saving material to the war affected communities in Darfur and avert the imminent famine in the region;
7. Urge all the parties to the conflict in Darfur as well as the African Union and United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to secure the delivery of humanitarian material to the needy people and to protect aid workers; and
8. Further call on all the parties to the armed conflict in Darfur, the mediation team and all those concerned to make additional efforts for achievement of the following objectives:

Power Sharing

1. Darfur should have its share in all organs of the national government, the executive, judiciary and the legislative, including the presidential institution, consistent with its population percentage. This should be applicable to all other regions and states.
2. Darfur should be one region with its 1956 borders within a federal republic of Sudan having several states to be determined by the people of Darfur.
3. Any future peace agreement in Darfur should be part of the national constitution and that all relevant executive and other organs and institutions for its implementation should be established by law to be enacted by legislative bodies.
4. The overwhelming majority of the people of Darfur do not recognize the 2008 population census because large parts of the region were not covered during this exercise. Demarcation of all electoral districts and constituencies in the region should, therefore, be based on the 1993 census and its projected growth rates.

Wealth Sharing

1. Distribution of national revenues and allocation of resources should be on the basis of population percentage of all the states. All national projects in Darfur, such as national highways, railways, dams, electricity generation, agricultural projects, etc., should be the responsibility of national government.
2. To reduce the gap in development an affirmative action programme should be applied to Darfur in all fields and that such a programme should include accelerated training and education to enable the victims of the conflict in Darfur, especially women, to take up responsibilities in the post-conflict reconstruction and development.
3. Investment is an important component in the development of Darfur and in order to speed up development in the region, Darfur should own decision-making power in the area of investment through an independent Darfur Investment and Development Corporation.

Land Issues

1. Land rights, use and control should be restored in accordance with the pre-independence historic Hakura system and a land Conference should be convened to promote understanding of the Hakura system.
2. Regulation of land ownership and usage should be the exclusive responsibility of the regional government, while the national government should retain the right to regulate mineral and oil exploration activities in accordance with an agreed upon formula.
3. Land currently occupied by foreign newcomers should be resituated to its original owners and that land allocated by the Government of Sudan for mechanised farming and large commercial and business enterprises, should be revised.

Restitution

1. Restitution, including reparations and compensation to groups and individuals and their dependents and descendants, within the framework of transitional justice is an inalienable right of the victims of the armed conflict in Darfur.
2. All the parties to the conflict in Darfur should reaffirm their commitment to the principle of restitution to the victims of the conflict and that such commitment should be translated into a restitution scheme to the full satisfaction of the victims and that the responsibility of restitution falls on the Government of Sudan.
3. Special affirmative action programme should be introduced as a complementary measure to cater to the needs of groups of victims of special needs including women victims of sexual violence and their children, orphans, the handicapped and the elderly.

We express our thanks and gratitude to the Government and people of the United Republic of Tanzania, the organisers as well as to the Tanzanian civil society for hosting this Workshop.

Done at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Wednesday 30 July 2023