The Government of Sudan and UN-Habitat this week organised a workshop to deliberate on urban and regional planning of the Darfur region.
The workshop was held under the aegis of the Ministry for Environment, Forestry and Physical Development of Sudan whose minister Mr. Hassan Abdelgadir Hilal, emphasised the need for the government and UN-Habitat to double their efforts in the coming months and years to provide a durable solution for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and the rapid urbanization trends in the country.
Mr. Hilal urged UN-Habitat to follow up on the full implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two parties in 2010 and promised his government's support to realise the issues agreed on. In this agreement, UN-Habitat is sharing and transferring capacity development tools, methods and best practices, training experts in sustainable human settlements and urban management and assist in the formulation of a national strategic plan.
The well attended workshop on the Darfur region ended with the states agreeing upon the steps and the way forward in dealing with the Darfur regional urban planning strategy with the context of urbanization and settlements.
Majority of the participants in the meeting emphasized the need for the government, local authorities including international partners to move with speed through a well thought out urban planning processes in the region aimed at providing sustainable urban development solutions that will prevent a return to new conflicts over limited resources.
