Sudanese media downplays UN-AU meeting on Darfur – BBC
Nov 17, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese official media avoided detailed reports on the high-profile UN meeting convened on 16 November in Addis Ababa, capital of neigbouring Ethiopia, on the conflict-hit Darfur region, BBC Monitoring noted at 1130 gmt on 17 November. The media also faced a dilemma over how to present President Omar al-Bashir as a man of peace when he remains opposed to new UN initiatives to end the Darfur war. This was following the president’s speech given the same day in Djibouti at a regional economic meeting.
Out of the 13 reports sampled, only two covered the Addis Ababa meeting, which they presented as a straight news story. The media didn’t detail the context of the Addis Ababa meeting and presented it as an ordinary summit, which was of not much consequence. Most of the reports, especially by Sudan TV, were brief.
However, their underlying political overtones couldn’t be missed. They backed the official line, which is rejection by Sudan of UN troops in Darfur, and urged the international community to take Khartoum’s line on the issue. As a result, the media carried reports featuring top government officials reiterating their opposition to the replacement of the current African Union (AU) troops by UN forces.
Sudan TV started its 16 November 1900 gmt bulletin with a brief report on the Addis Ababa meeting. According to the station, the meeting was convened to enable all parties to “reach an understanding over the points put forward regarding [UN Security Council] Resolution 1706 and its ramifications”. The secretary of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, Mutrif Siddiq, is supposed to have urged the meeting from Khartoum to “stand to reason” and “come up with resolutions supporting the government views in finding a solution to the Darfur issue”. However, he fails to do so in the direct remarks contained in the report. He instead speaks on the conduct of the meeting.
Another report the same day by the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA’s) web site has the Sudanese defence minister, Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Husayn, warning that Darfur “will be the invaders’ graveyard if the UN Security Council thinks about implementing Resolution 1706”. The site quotes the minister, who was addressing government troops in southern Darfur, claiming that the Sudanese military was “capable” of imposing security in the area and will “wipe out the rebellion and spread the dignity of the country”. Husayn adds that President Bashir was “confident in the command of the armed forces and their ability to carry out their duties without pretexts for foreign interference”.
Earlier, in its 1310 bulletin the same day, Sudan TV carried a report in which the second vice-president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, called on the international community to “put pressure” on Darfur rebel groups, which have not signed the Abuja peace agreement. According to Taha, this would ensure that the rebels “join the peace process in the country instead of escalating the situation in [the] Darfur regions”. The implication was that: the government and its allies were keeping the peace while the non-signatory rebels were to blame for the escalating violence.
President Bashir’s speech at the end of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit in Djibouti presented the Sudanese state media with a dilemma: how to present the president as a man committed to peace in Darfur when he remains vocal in opposing new UN initiatives to end the crisis. A 16 November report by the Suna web site cited President Bashir urging the international community to “support the African Union to complete its mission in Darfur and give a model for solving conflicts through the regional organizations”. However, the same report has the president rejecting UN Security Council Resolution No 1706 saying it “poses [a] great obstacle before the peace process and violation to the country’s sovereignty”. The president contradicts himself further in the same story when he says that his government was “working in close cooperation” with the UN and AU to “develop the plan of implementation of the support package proposed by UN to the African Union”.
The UN-Sudan cooperation theme reappears on a 16 November report by Sudan TV in its 1900 gmt bulletin. The report, which is based on Bashir’s Comesa speech, has the president reiterates his “commitment to fully cooperate with the AU and the UN and the international community to implement the Darfur peace agreement”.
The media also claimed that regional leaders and organizations were now supporting the Sudanese position in regards to the UN troops. In its 1310 gmt English bulletin on 16 November, Sudan TV claimed that the Comesa summit had “declared its support to Sudan in its stance in rejecting the UN Security Council Resolution 1706”.
There was no attribution which Comesa official sanctioned the Sudanese position. The station instead said this was position taken by Comesa’s Peace and Security Council.
The station further claimed that the summit had “praised the efforts [being] made by the [Sudanese] government in realizing peace [in Darfur]”.
(BBCM)