With projects to lure displaced Darfuris back home, Muslim and Arab aid groups are stepping in to break the cycle of hunger and poverty in Sudan’s conflict-ridden Darfur region. “Muslim governments are increasing their support for relief groups that already exist in Darfur,” Dr. Muhammad Hussein Dafallah of the Federal Humanitarian Aid Commission said on June 19. “This includes groups like the Egyptian Doctors Union, Mercy Malaysia, Kisns Yokmu of Turkey, and the Saudi Red Crescent Society.”
The Muslim aid increase came at an appeal by the Sudanese government to fill the gap caused by the expulsion of 13 foreign aid groups from Darfur.
The endeavour aims to break the cycle of hunger and poverty in the violence-doomed region. “[We] want to help end the cycle of hunger and poverty in Darfur,” Dr. Muhammad Alswied, international affairs consultant at the Saudi Red Crescent Society (SRCS), said. The SCRS, which has been working in Darfur since 1984, hopes that the Muslim effort would help ease the difficult life of the Darfuris. “We are proposing a package for emergency relief and sustainable development that includes twenty-one health centres, twenty-one water projects, and twenty-one agriculture and strategic food supply projects,” he said.