Sudan welcomes new UN chief’s remarks on Darfur

Jan 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government on Wednesday cautiously welcomed remarks made by new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the current crisis in the western region of Darfur.

“We regard these remarks as positive,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadiq told Xinhua. “We hope that the new UN chief will work to give a stronger push for an agreement among the Sudanese government, the UN and the African Union (AU) on reinforcing the African (peacekeeping) mission in Darfur,” he said.

Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that he would put the Darfur issue atop the list of priorities. “The crisis situation in Darfur is very high on my agenda. I will turn immediately my attention to this issue,” he said.

In a letter to former UN chief Kofi Annan released last week, Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir expressed Khartoum’s readiness to accept a UN-sponsored plan of supporting the AU force in Darfur, as agreed at two previous meetings among the three parties.

The Sudanese president, who has until now steadfastly rejected any large-scale UN troop deployment in Darfur, endorsed the three-phase plan, including deployment of a hybrid AU-UN peacekeeping force in the region.

(Xinhua)