Egypt expresses concern about UN resolution on Sudan’s Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Apr 5, 2005 (PANA) — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Ghait has expressed dismay at last week’s UN Security Council
resolution, which demanded that war crime suspects in Sudan’s
troubled region of Darfur should be tried by the International
Criminal Court (ICC), Khartoum dailies affirmed Tuesday.

“The international community should avoid measures or resolutions
that could have the opposite effect of what was intended,” the
Egyptian minister was quoted as cautioning.

The authorities in Khartoum have since rejected Resolution 1593,
which the Security Council adopted last Thursday.

They described the resolution as “unfair” and “narrow-minded,”
insisting that the Sudanese Judiciary system was capable of
trying all individuals suspected of war crimes in war-ravaged
Darfur.

President Omar Hassan el-Bashir has vowed not to hand over any
compatriot for trial abroad.

Press reports here said Egypt would on 20 April host a mini-
African summit on the escalating crisis in Darfur, where two
rebel groups alleging neglect and marginalisation of the region,
took up arms against the government in Khartoum.

Cairo sources said the presidents of Chad, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria
and Sudan would attend the summit billed for the Red Sea resort
of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Last October, leaders from the same five countries met in
Tripoli, Libya and recommended that the conflict in Darfur be
resolved without foreign intervention.

There has so far been little progress in peace talks between
rebels and the Sudanese government, being steered in the Nigerian
capital, Abuja by the African Union.