Press Release

The Parallel Conference to the Arab Summit

"Darfur and the Upcoming Arab Summit"

The Arab Coalition for Darfur is organizing a conference in parallel with the Arab
Summit that is due to take place in Qatar at the end of March under the slogan
"(Darfur and the Upcoming Arab Summit)."

The conference is expected to run over two days from the 7th till the 8th of March
2009 at the "Om Kolthoum" Hotel in Zamalek, Cairo. Participants will touch on a
variety of important issues pertinent to the crisis in Darfur and the repercussions
of this crisis along with ways and means to solve it. It will also tackle the role
that the League of Arab States should assume regarding this dangerous issue with a
presentation of the deteriorating situation of the civilians living in the region.
It is worth mentioning that the United Nations has described the catastrophe in
Darfur as being "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world."

The Conference is expected to tackle a number of important issues, such as:

1-The Humanitarian situation in Darfur since the beginning of the crisis

2-Procedures of the international assistance and the position of the Arab
governments and the role of the Sudanese government in saving the civilians in
Darfur

3-A serious study of the position of previous Arab Summits regarding the Darfur
crisis and the indicators of the forthcoming position of the Arab Summit towards
this crisis

4- Humanitarian, political and military consequences of the decision of the
International Criminal Court and the stance of the League of Arab States

5-The position of the non-governmental organizations and the Arab activists and
working on finding an international point of interest to come up with practical
measures to influence the upcoming Arab Summit so that it would have a decisive role
in reaching a solution to the crisis.

At the end of this important discussion, the conference participants along with the
Arab Coalition will send an important message to the upcoming Arab Summit to
activate the message and work on solving the Darfur crisis.

The Arab Coalition for Darfur will work hard through the parallel conference to the
Arab Summit to form a delegation that will be chosen from among the participants to
attend the Arab Summit carrying the message that they have reached in the parallel
conference, and push the Arab Summit to ratify real measures to protect the
civilians and end the conflict in Darfur.

It is expected that this conference will gather many experts from the civil society,
media personnel and people interested in the Darfur crisis from different Arab
states.