Darfur rebels denounce Doha donors meet

KHARTOUM: Rebels who have been fighting for 10 years in Sudan’s Darfur region on Sunday denounced an international donor conference, which seeks support for “rebuilding” the devastated region.
“I would like to condemn very strongly” the meeting, which began the same day in the Gulf state of Qatar, said Abdel Wahid Mohammed Al-Nur, who heads a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army.
“To have (a) donors’ conference you have to have peace and security on the ground first,” said Nur, who launched the rebellion in 2003.
Speaking to AFP, he alleged that donated money “will not go to the people.”
Gibril Adam Bilal, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), asked the international community “not to participate in giving the government of Sudan a chance to conduct crimes” against the people.
The Doha conference, which ends on Monday, was agreed under a July 2011 peace deal which Khartoum signed in the Qatari capital with an alliance of rebel splinter groups.
Major rebel movements including JEM and Nur’s faction have refused to sign the peace pact.