Events Archive
Remarks by Chargé d’Affaires Fernandez at Iftar
Monday, September 24, 2007
I want to welcome you all to this Ramadan event and to offer you our congratulations on this blessed month.
Ramadan is “mawsim al-khayr” and even though I am not a Muslim, I have learned about Ramadan as I have learned about Islam, from the life and behavior and example of Muslims I have know for over twenty years from Africa to Afghanistan.
At this time of faith and love, I think of a phrase that I have heard, about “rahma lil-duafa and about Islam as the religion of al-muamala. When we think about al-mustadafeen, I think about those who suffer in Palestine and Iraq, of the victims of several wars and disasters on the African continent. I think of those who are imprisoned and away from their families, in the east and in the west.
Certainly we think of the people of Darfur and of the upcoming peace talks that are to take place in Tripoli. These talks will demand much of all of us if they are to be successful.
For the international community, they demand a level of commitment and follow-through. They demand that we be balanced and pressure any who refuses to participate. That we match our words of concern with tangible support for development and reconstruction in Darfur.
For the government of Sudan, these talks demand flexibility and concessions, “karama” and “rahma lil-duafa.” They demand a level of honesty and of self criticism from the government in ending cycles of marginalization and revenge.
For the rebels, these talks will also demand much. That they be honest with each other and with the people of Darfur that they claim to represent. That they recognize that the solution in Darfur is through a political process and not through fighting. It will also require that they sacrifice personal and party ambitions for the sake of refugees and IDPs and of compromise with all the sons of Darfur.
Failure in Tripoli will be the failure of all of us and success in Tripoli would be the success of all, and we must succeed.
It is my sincerest hope that by next Ramadan we will be talking, not of war but of how to strengthen the peace and justice we have been able to achieve in Darfur and in all of Sudan.
Thank you and kul aam wa intum tayyibeen.