Sudan’s ruling party says UN now USA’s “tool”

KHARTOUM, Aug 12, 2004 (Al-Sahafah) — The governing party (National Congress) has termed the simultaneous statements issued by the US Administration and the UN – accusing the government of using planes to bombard areas in Darfur, obstructing the flow of relief aid, and pressurizing the displaced people to return – an unjustifiable escalation and hostile and provocative course.

In a press statement issued yesterday, the secretary-general of the National Congress, Ibrahim Ahmad Omar, said the government was tackling the Darfur problem responsibly and was making efforts in the humanitarian an security spheres, with a view to containing the situation.

He said the government did not need pressure from any quarter to be reminded of its responsibility.

He viewed the simultaneous statements and reports from the American administration and the international organization [UN], as proof the UN has become one of the tools of the USA.

He said the UN had no excuse for the hostile measures it was taking against Sudan. He pointed that the UN took a new step every time a previous measure was about to resolve [a crisis]. He said this was a method that was provocative and which ought to be rejected, adding this was all in the context of the illogical and irrational policies being pursued by the quarters hostile to Sudan.

Translated from Arabic by the BBC Monitoring Service