Sudan urges Eritrea to expel Darfur rebels
Sept 24, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese president urged Eritrea to expel the members of a Darfur rebel group from its territories. He further said that he rejects any Eritrean role in Darfur crisis.
In a press conference held in Khartoum Sunday, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir requested Eritrea to expel members of the national Redemption Front from Eritrea.
Bashir expressed his keenness to establish good relations with Asmara. He said “we want our relations with Eritrea be founded on good neighbourhood and mutual interests”.
He also praised Eritrean efforts to resolve eastern Sudan crisis and its sponsorship for the ongoing talks in Asmara between Sudan and rebel Eastern Sudan Front.
Bashir said Eritrea hosts holdout rebels groups and countries that back the Darfur Peace Agreement should ask Eritrea and sanction rebel groups opposed to the DPA.
Sudanese president seems angered by Eritrean efforts to meditate between the Sudanese government and the holdout rebel groups, because it is Sudan’s First Vice President Salva Kiir who requested the Eritrean mediation.
Sudanese ruling National Congress Party had declined since last August the Eritrean mediation. However, Salva Kiir and his SPLM are showed interest in the Eritrean role in Darfur issue.
To avoid troubles with the Sudanese ruling party over Darfur, Eritrea announced since the beginning of August that rebel NRF are no more in Eritrea. Chairperson of organizational affairs in the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Abdallah Jabir told the paper that NRF leadership had left Eritrea.
Even when Salva Kiir visited Asmara at the end of August, he just found in Asmara a representative of the NRF but no any leading member there.
Analysts say Bashir may speak about Eritrea but he means the First Vice-President who supported publicly the deployment of the international forces in war-torn Darfur region.
Analysts also wonder why Bashir spoke about the NRF and omitted the leadership of a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Ahmed Abdulshafi Bassey who is currently in Asmara.
The Darfur rebel NRF is founded on 30 June by a dissident from the Sudan Liberation Movement/ Army (SLM/ A) led by Khamis Abdalla Abakr, Justice Equality Movement of Khalil Ibrahim (JEM); and. Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance (SFDA) of Ahmed Ibrahim Diraig and Sharif Harir.
(ST)