Islamic Group Raises $850 Million for Darfur Reconstruction

21 March 2010

Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is right seen as he co chairs the opening of the International donor conference for the development and the construction of Darfur in Cairo, Egypt, 21 Mar 2010

An Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) donor meeting has raised $850 million in pledges for Darfur reconstruction. The projects are aimed resettling 2.7 million displaced people.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting in Cairo is the start of a projected $2 billion effort to finance better infrastructure in the war-torn Sudanese region.

Darfur's conflict is not over, but the conference comes at an opportune time. In recent weeks, two main rebel groups have signed cease-fire agreements with the Sudanese government. Qatari-mediated talks have also produced general framework agreements to reach a lasting peace.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told the 57 Islamic Conference states, as well as dozens of other countries and aid agencies, that such political efforts must be joined by developmental strategies.

Moussa says the combined approach helps guarantee settling conflicts, especially ones with poverty among its sources. Darfur rebels rose up against the central government in 2003 after years of perceived marginalization.

The OIC undertaking is ambitious, it involves not just rebuilding, but in many cases building for the first time the infrastructure that could make Darfur self-sustaining. In many areas, villages were burned by Janjaweed militia, the government-backed, mainly Arab forces that pushed many Black African farmers from their land.