World should also hold rebels to account: Sudanese foreign minister
CAIRO, Aug 7 (AFP) — The international community should not focus only on the Sudanese government but also hold rebels in the strife-torn western region of Darfur to account, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said Saturday.
“The war was started by the rebels. The rebels should not run out from being responsible for all the catastrophe,” Ismail said in an interview with US Cable News Network.
He was referring to the conflict between government forces and rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement that erupted in February 2003.
Negotiations between the two sides aimed at addressing the grievances of the rebels have failed to make progress, except for an April ceasefire deal which each has accused the other of violating.
“Why should we go talking about the government and not talking about the rebels who started the war,” the minister complained.
The conflict has cost an estimated 50,000 lives, displaced some 1.2 million people from their homes and driven over 100,000 across the border into neighboring Chad, according to United Nations figures.
The UN Security Council on July 30 adopted a resolution that gave Khartoum up to 30 days to bring the situation in Darfur under control, including disarming pro-government Arab militias, or face international action.
The militias, especially the Janjaweed, have been blamed for many of the atrocities in the region, which the UN says is creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“All we can do with the Janjaweed is to arrest them,” said Ismail. He also denied the Janjaweed were acting at the behest of the government, saying, “We have nothing to do with the Janjaweed.”
The Sudanese government and the UN have agreed on a 30-day action plan to improve the humanitarian situation in Darfur and disarm the various militia groups in the region.
“The situation is in need of the support of the international community, the government alone cannot do it,” the foreign minister admitted.
Khartoum has pledged to increase the number of policemen in the three states of Darfur to 6,000 over the coming days as part of an effort to stabilize the security situation as demanded by the UN resolution.
“The security inside the camps is improving, the security outside the camps is still a problem,” said Ismail.
Humanitarian agencies have in recent days accused the government of trying to get displaced people living in camps scattered all over Darfur to return to their villages, most of which have been burnt, against their will.
Ismail, however, denied that this was the case. “There is no forced return,” he asserted.
The minister further stressed that his government was doing everything in its power to resolve the situation and saw no justification for international action against it, including sanctions and foreign military intervention.
“Our question will be, why? What is the problem,” he inquired, adding that the government was “fully cooperating and responding.”
Ismail said: “What can we do more than this?”