Sudan welcomes Annan’s envoy visit
May 21, 206 (KHARTOUM) — Khartoum has welcomed the visit of Al-Akhdar Brahimi, the envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, to Sudan this week, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Ambassador Jamal Mohamed Abraham said in a press statement the visit comes in the context of the consultations between the Government and the United Nations pertinent to the implementation of the Security Council’s resolutions on Darfur.
Annan decided to dispatch Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister who stepped down from active U.N. service last December, as his special envoy “as part of a continuing dialogue with the government of Sudan”..
He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the Sudanese mission in New York to grant the entry visa to the envoy of the international organization and the accompanying delegation.
Jamal affirmed that there are continuous consultations over the available channels between the government and the organs of the United Nations for cooperation with the international community for implementation of Abuja agreement to contribute to the success of the humanitarian operations, rehabilitation and repatriation of the IDPs and refugees.
Annan ordered the mission two days after the U.N. Security Council gave the Sudanese government one week to allow military planners into Darfur.
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Brahimi mission signals an intensification of talks on transferring control of the African Union-led peacekeeping force to the U.N., following the peace deal, signed this month by the Sudanese government and the main rebel group in Abuja, Nigeria.
“What they will discuss is what role the U.N. will play in Darfur in the implementation of the peace agreement,” Dujarric said. “They are part of the preparation for the proposed transition. We have been having contacts with Sudanese government, both at the mission level here in New York, and in Khartoum, and we are trying to move the planning process ahead as quickly as possible.”
U.N. diplomats have expressed hope that the Darfur peacekeeping mission could be transferred to U.N. control and more than doubled in size by later this year. The Khartoum government had earlier said it would permit the handover, once a peace agreement was signed, but, in recent days, has given conflicting signals about whether it would do so.
(ST)