BRITISH MUSLIM GROUP VISITS QATAR WITH DARFUR MISSION

A group of leading Muslims from the UK visited Doha on 22 December with a focus on Darfur. The aim of the visit was to demonstrate British Muslim support for efforts to end the suffering of people in Darfur and to build partnerships between British Muslim civil society groups and their counterparts in Qatar. This visit followed previous British Muslim delegations to Qatar in recent years.

The delegation includes representatives from Islamic Relief, Muslim Aid, the Muslim Council of Britain and those with experience of women and minority issues. The delegation visited IDP camps in Darfur to see for themselves the situation on the ground along with local aid agencies. The group also made official calls and met with international and Sudanese civil society to discuss the challenges on the ground. In Qatar they present their conclusions to HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abdullah Al Mahmoud, leading the delegation. And they met experts in the field of humanitarian relief at the Qatari Red Crescent as well as Al Jazeera editors in order to discuss the situation in Darfur.

The visit also aims to demonstrate British Muslim support for moves in the Arab world to take a more active role in resolving the conflict in Darfur. Before coming to Doha the group also visited Cairo, Jeddah and Riyadh.

The delegates said:

"We went to Darfur to see for ourselves the suffering caused by the ongoing conflict in the region. We include senior representatives from Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid who have experience of working on the humanitarian issues in Darfur. With 2.7 million Darfuris displaced by the conflict so far, the scale of the task is huge and getting worse.  We are keen to demonstrate to the people of Darfur that their plight is not forgotten by British Muslims, the British public and people around the world.

“Muslim communities worldwide have a moral duty to work tirelessly to help alleviate the suffering of the people of Darfur.  We are visiting Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to have discussions with the Arab league, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and governments and civil society groups in the region. We are here to voice our support for efforts by Muslim organisations and governments to take a practical – and moral - lead in resolving the conflict in Darfur. We strongly support recent initiatives by the Qatari government with the key involvement of AU/UN joint chief mediator Mr Djibrill Bassolé.”

The five delegates were:

• Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Chair, Muslim Aid and Muslim Council of Britain
• Jehangir Malik, UK Director of Islamic Relief
• Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, Islamic scholar
• Fatim Kurji, lawyer and Director of the CATCH charity project
• Shelina Janmohamed, writer and commentator

The delegates are not spokespeople for the British Government, but represent the UK and their communities.  They are free to express their own opinions. British Muslim organisations and communities have been actively involved in the support of development in Sudan since 1984.

The delegates travelled as part of the Projecting British Islam programme.