Sudan reluctantly accepts UN resolution on Darfur: minister
KHARTOUM, July 31 (AFP) — The Sudanese government reluctantly accepted a UN Security Council resolution on its troubled Darfur region, reversing an earlier position, a minister said.
“Although we don’t like the resolution, we are already committed to the implementation of its measures on the basis of the agreement that was concluded with (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan,” the minister of state for foreign affairs, Neguib al-Kheir Abdul Wahab, told AFP.
Abul Wahab was referring to an agreement between the government and the United Nations earlier in July under which Sudan agreed to implement a series of measures regarding the war-torn region.
They include a lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid, facilitating access and reining in pro-government Arab militias blamed for atrocities in Darfur where thousands of people risk starvation.
Abdul Wahab said the UN resolution “was unnecessarily rushed by the Security Council, although there is nothing new in it”.
He also complained that while the deal with Annan gave the Sudanese government up to 90 days to deliver on its commitments, the resolution cut the period by a third.
The UN resolution passed Friday gave Khartoum 30 days to bring the crisis in Darfur under control or face international action.
Abdul Wahab added that resolution concentrated on Khartoum and made little or no demands of the rebel groups that have been fighting the government for the past 17 months.
He argued this would send the “wrong signal to the rebels” and encourage them to stay away from negotiations.
The Sudanese cabinet will release its official reaction to the UN resolution on Sunday, he added.
The United Nations estimates that some 50,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur, with more than one million displaced from their homes as a result of the fighting between government forces and their Arab militia allies and the two main rebel groups in the region.
In Addis Ababa, Sudan’s ambassador to the African Union (AU), Osman Elsayed Fad Elsayed, said earlier Saturday: “Unlike Israel, which dumps UN resolutions, we are going to implement the resolution.
“Indeed, we are going to do all we can to end the crisis by disarming the militias and all illegal armed men and women in the area.
“Even though some of the harsh wording and elements have been dropped, it is regrettable for the UN to come up with with such a resolution,” ,” Elsayed told a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, where the AU is based.
He said the government in Khartoum has dispatched a force of 6,000 police to Darfur to support the government force stationed there and to ensure security.
“The government has allowed an unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid and is closely working with the AU observers, as well as welcomes the protection force from Nigeria and Rwanda,” he insisted.
He was referring to the planned deployment next week of observers from the AU, to be protected by troops from Nigeria and Rwanda.
Elsayed denied that Sudanese Arabs were against black Africans.
“We are all blacks, there is no Arab as such that you can identify by his skin or colour and this makes things complicated in the disarming of the militias,” he said.
“The so-called Arab militia have no blessing of the government, they are outlaws like other militants. They will be brought to face justice like any one who is involved in crime against the people of Darfur,” he added.
“The international community should give a chance to the AU and African leaders working with us on the Darfur crisis, who know more than a two-day visitor from outside Africa.”
After delays caused by logistical problems, the AU appeared ready to dispatch next week 308 troops — contributed by Nigeria and Rwanda — to protect a ceasefire and observer mission in Darfur.