Sudan urges Obama to deal ‘realistically’ with Darfur crisis
March 28, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government called on the Obama US administration “to get his information right” with regard to issues the country.
“We hope that president Barack Obama will follow through on his promise of change” Abdel-Basit Al-Sanoosi told SMC.
Al-Sanoosi added that the US must seek to remove misunderstanding with Islamic countries through dialogue and expressed Sudan’s readiness to work with the US if the latter “is serious and realistic”.
The United States imposed economic sanctions on Sudan in 1997 and designated it a “state sponsor of terrorism” Khartoum has been pushing for full normalization of relations with Washington and an end to more than a decade of U.S. sanctions.
But despite helping broker the North-South peace agreement in Sudan, the Darfur conflict further worsened relations between the two countries.
Washington has condemned a recent decision by Sudan to expel more than a dozen aid agencies from Darfur.
This month the US President Barack Obama appointed retired Air Force General Scott Gration as his special envoy to Sudan.
Al-Sanoosi said that the US is capable of playing a “positive role” using its clout “through serious cooperation with the government and pressing the non-signatory [Darfur] rebels to engage in negotiations”.
“This is the only way to find solutions for the stability and peace in Darfur” he added.
The United Nations says 300,000 people have died — many from disease and hunger — and 2.7 million have been made homeless by the Darfur conflict, which erupted in 2003. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.
In September 2004 Washington labeled the Darfur conflict genocide
(ST)