UN takes bin Laden’s threat seriously : official

April 26, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said on Wednesday that it would seriously consider al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s threats to transfer the group’s military operations to Sudan.

“We take al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s threats to transfer the group’s activities to Sudan with whole seriousness,” said UNMIS Force Commander Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder at a press conference held in Khartoum.

In a latest audiotape aired on Monday, bin Laden urged Muslim militants to get ready for “a long-term war” against western forces in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur.

“These threats are not only against the United Nations, but also against the Sudanese government and the Sudanese people,” said Lidder.

But the senior UN official expressed confidence in the Sudanesegovernment’s ability to deal with the security affairs in the country, saying that the government can prevent any activity threatening Sudan’s security situation.

Lidder also affirmed the improvement of security in southern Sudan.

He said that concerned parties of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) had shown a definite commitment to the security arrangements in the agreement.

The Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLA) inked the CPA in January 2005, ending a decades-long conflict in southern Sudan.

Brigadier General Hussein Kambal, representative of the Sudanese government in the Ceasefire Joint Military Committee (CJMC) which oversees the ceasefire, reiterated the Sudanese army’scommitment to the CPA.

He said that the army had made great progress in withdrawing its troops from various areas in southern Sudan.

(Xinhua/ST)