Khartoum unhappy with EU role in Sudan, minister

December 27, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government has conveyed its dissatisfaction with the role played by the European Union (EU) in the country to its outgoing envoy in Khartoum.

During talks held in the Sudanese capital on Tuesday, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti informed Carlo De Filippi, the head of the EU delegation to Sudan, that Khartoum was interested in improving its relations with the EU in all fields.

Karti further noted that Sudan sometime ago offered EU leaders to support projects of regional cooperation in the Horn of Africa.

However, the Sudanese minister told De Filippi that Khartoum views the role played by the EU towards Sudan as less than desired and expected.

De Filippi, whose term as an envoy in Sudan ended, noted the cooperation he received from the Sudanese government and pledged continued relations between Brussels and Khartoum.

Despite considerable improvement in the relations between the EU and Sudan as of the 1999s and after the singing of the 2005 peace deal with South Sudan, Khartoum complains that it has been denied access to hundreds of millions in Euros due to its refusal to ratify the Rome Statute, which is the founding text of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Sudan refuses to recognize the jurisdictions of the Hague-based ICC which is seeking the arrest of three Sudanese individuals, including President Al-Bashir, against the background of atrocities committed in the country’s western region of Darfur.

(ST)