UN goal in Darfur is humanitarian, not Sudan independence – UK
Sept 23, 2006 (DOHA) — In a talk show organized by the Qatari Al-Jazeera Satellite TV a British minister said international community wants to help Sudan to implement Darfur peace deal. He said the main motivation is a humanitarian goal.
The British Foreign Office Africa Minister, Lord Triesman said to Al-Jazeera TV Friday 22 September that International Community cannot tolerate seeing a large number of people dying because of military actions, starvation or humanitarian problems facing the relief agencies.
Triesman accused the Sudanese government of violating Darfur Peace Agreement signed with a rebel faction last May. Government “sent helicopters to attack civilians. It also sent planes to attack villages in northern Darfur every night”, he said.
Speaking in the show, Sudanese Presidential Advisor Gazi salah Eddin defended Sudanese president rejection of the UN takeover in Darfur. He said his government has the right to be suspicious because the world can simply support the current AU force instead of UN force. The British official replied by saying that AU forces would be withdrawn at the end of the year and there would be a security vacuum.
Invited at the same programme, a Sudanese political analyst Mohamed Hassan Ahmed said the peace agreement was not good and all parties to it made mistakes. These are the government, the international community and the AU. The DPA was signed under big pressure on the rebel groups.
He also read a paragraph on from UN resolution 1706 stating the Security Council’s strong commitment to the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Sudan. He said government has no reason to invoke that the resolution will undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and independence.
He then says the president violated the constitution and the agreement reached with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement by ignoring the need to get the approval of the first vice-president when war or a state of emergency is declared in the country.
(ST)