"Children of Darfur" meeting – Press briefing given by Mme Rama Yade, Minister of State responsible for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights (excerpts)
Paris, 30 July 2007
THE MINISTER – I have just convened a meeting of 18 humanitarian organizations operating in Darfur.
(…)
At the end of an extremely interesting meeting, which has shown us that the organizations deserve our wholehearted support, I have taken three decisions:
in the face of the NGOs’ continuing financial problems, I have decided to issue a call for emergency projects to finance the efforts to improve the humanitarian protection of the children carried out by the humanitarian organizations on the ground. These projects will have to be submitted before 20 August since (…) in September [in the margins of the UN General Assembly] we’re going to get the political process moving again. So it’s important to move fast and this is why I’d like them to respond to this call for projects before 20 August;
secondly, I have decided personally to commit myself vis-à-vis the government, members of parliament and local authorities to informing them of the work the humanitarian organizations are doing so that our efforts are better coordinated. The idea is to encourage projects for the children in Darfur which are multifaceted as well as both coordinated and coherent. I’m thinking, for example, of the solidarity chains, school twinnings and sponsorships. The worst thing of all would be for there to be a whole host of different initiatives which end up going nowhere or being incomplete because people haven’t talked to each other or come to agreement;
thirdly, I’d like to go to Darfur to take stock on the spot of the humanitarian organizations’ resources and needs. Admittedly, the situation is complicated. As you know, the crisis goes beyond Darfur, beyond Sudan, since both Chad and the Central African Republic are involved. So it’s important to get a clear view of things by going over there as soon as possible in order to really understand the situation and see how these organizations operate, particularly their staff who are having a lot of problems with security, who can’t always do their work under satisfactory conditions. It’s important, as they themselves have said to me, for the political process to take account of their security and also to protect the humanitarian zones in which the organizations are operating.
To conclude, in the near future I’ll be convening another meeting of the humanitarian organizations present today to take stock and assess what has happened in the interim.
HUMANITARIAN INITIATIVES/HYBRID FORCE
Q. – How do you integrate the initiatives you have just described with the possible deployment of a hybrid force to ensure security (…)?
THE MINISTER – I believe that at every stage of the political negotiating process which is currently under way and is going to continue, it will be necessary to make the Sudanese government and Chadian and Central African authorities aware of the need to ensure the safety of the humanitarian organizations, because obviously if they can’t work, they risk pulling out and that would be a disaster for everyone. The number of refugees is rising, as is the number of displaced persons; and there aren’t only rebels and soldiers, but also the armed bandits operating on the roads, as we were told. These are difficulties, numerous obstacles which have to be removed. (…)./.