NAM reaffirms support for Sudan peace :

Urges more development aid to Darfur

EGYPT: The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) states back the peace progress in Sudan and call for more development aid to be pooled into the African country’s western war-torn Darfur region, according to a revised draft final document for the 15th NAM summit due here this week, distributed by the summit secretariat on Monday.

The heads of state and government of the NAM states commend the African Union (AU), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Friends of IGAD for their indispensable role and efforts, which have resulted in the achievement of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005 in Sudan.

The pact ended the decades of civil war in Sudan, one of the longest running wars in the African continent and thereby contributed to regional peace, says the document. The NAM leaders call on international donors to fulfill their commitments made in Oslo in 2005 and 2008 to help implement that agreement.

They welcome the signing on May 5, 2006 of the Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja, Nigeria as a historic step towards lasting peace in Darfur, and further back the AU’s leading role and efforts in sustaining peace and stability in Darfur.

They encourage the political process as a priority and stress the need to focus on developmental assistance in Darfur as peace and development are mutually reinforced, reads the document.

Sharm El Sheikh, Tuesday, Xinhua