Sudan says postponement to ensure total success to UN official visit
April 4, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said that the visit of top U.N. envoy, has been postponed “due to the keenness to make a success this visit”, the official Sudan News Agency reported.
Jan Egeland, U.N. under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, said Sudanese government officials denied him permission Monday to visit the capital, Kartoum, or to visit Darfur.
He was told that visiting Khartoum and Darfur, in the Muslim north of the country, would be too sensitive because offensive publications in his nation were among those that published offensive cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The official statement attributed postponement of the UN official’s visit to engagements of senior Sudanese officials during the period from April 2 – 6, and the celebrations of Mulid (birth day of Prophet Muhammad). So, visiting Darfur during this period would be too sensitive because offensive publications in his nation were among those that published offensive cartoons of Islam’s Prophet.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed “regret” Tuesday at the government’s decision to bar Egeland from visiting Darfur and will try to speak to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir about it, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at U.N. headquarters in New York.
“The pressing and urgent humanitarian requirements of Darfur are a priority for the United Nations and coordination efforts to sustain this large program were at the center of Mr. Egeland’s visit,” Dujarric said.
The U.N. Security Council was briefed on Egeland’s problems with Sudan Tuesday morning by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi, Dujarric said.
The U.K.’s U.N. ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said he wants Egeland to brief the Security Council “on his entire experience.”
(ST)