Letter dated 15 May 2007 from the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General


	Further to my letter dated 29 March 2007 and its attachment (the joint communiqué on the facilitation of humanitarian activities in Darfur), I have the honour to transmit to you the outcome of the meeting of the High-level Committee on the implementation of the above-mentioned communiqué (see annex). I should be grateful if this letter and its annex could be issued as a document of the Security Council.


(Signed) Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad
Permanent Representative
		Annex to the letter dated 15 May 2007 from the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General


		Press release


		Outcome of the meeting of the High-level Committee on the implementation of the joint communiqué on the facilitation of humanitarian activities in Darfur


	The High-level Committee that was established by the joint communiqué on the facilitation of humanitarian activities in Darfur met for the first time today, 2 May, at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. The meeting was chaired by the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General. The participants included representatives of the Humanitarian Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, the Embassy of Jordan, international non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. The Committee had positive discussions on facilitating the work of humanitarian actors in Darfur. The Committee acknowledged the progress that had been made in terms of improving access for humanitarian actors, and for addressing bureaucratic issues that had been identified.
	Commitments were made by the Government to address issues of labour requirements with a view to resolving them prior to the next meeting. The United Nations agreed to expedite technical support to strengthen the capacity of the Joint Procedures Centre and the Technical Committee. A common monitoring mechanism was endorsed by the Committee and will be the basis for registering and addressing any issues related to the joint communiqué in a systematic manner. Progress was acknowledged on the processing of visas for non-governmental organizations, and humanitarian assets through Customs, although it was noted that further work needs to be done. The Committee also supported the wide dissemination of the agreements made in the joint communiqué.
	The Committee agreed to meet again in two weeks’ time.









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 United Nations
S/2007/284
 
 Security Council
Distr.: General
16 May 2007

Original: English



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