JSR Gambari, in a briefing to members of the Foreign Press Association of Egypt yesterday in Cairo, said UNAMID would work hard to build on the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) signed between the Government of Sudan and one of its armed opponents by bringing more armed movements into the peace process. “Our priority is the peace process. There was an agreement signed on July 14,” he said.

“The ideal is to have a comprehensive peace agreement. However we can’t sit and fold our arms. We have to make sure more armed movements join. The first movement that was ready was the LJM,” he said, referring to the Liberation and Justice Movement that signed peace with the Government of the Sudan.

One of the main purposes of the JSR’s visit to Egypt was to reach agreement on the crucial role the League of Arab States will play in supporting the acceleration of the recovery and development efforts in Darfur.

JSR Gambari briefed the journalists on a joint statement issued by the League and UNAMID on their agreement to develop, with the Sudanese Government, 12 model villages in 12 months, each serving at least 12,000 returnees in Darfur. Each model village will have three development components: Basic Infrastructure, Social and Humanitarian Services; and Livelihoods Creation and Support.

He said the objective of the tripartite initiative was “giving the people of Darfur the benefits of the peace dividend” in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable peace in Darfur.

He said the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Darfuris that have been living in camps for Internally Displaced People (IDP) for years were fed up with war and the armed movements were getting increasingly isolated.

“We believe that there can be no military solution in Darfur. If there could have been there would have been,” JSR Gambari said.