Iran, Sudan close ranks in face of Western pressure
Feb 28, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his first visit to Sudan on Wednesday extended full support to his counterpart Omar al-Beshir, blaming the United States and its allies for the region’s woes.
On a two-day visit aimed at bolstering ties between the oil-producing Islamic states — both considered state sponsors of terrorism by Washington –, the Iranian leader held talks with Beshir and several other senior officials.
“The forces of hegemony that are exerting pressure on the government and people of Sudan do not want to see a strong and effective” country, Ahmadinejad said before going into closed-door talks with his Sudanese counterpart.
“We are confident that our brothers, the president of Sudan and his colleagues… will forge ahead and present a united front in confronting those challenges,” he said.
Ahmadinejad later met Sudan’s First Vice President Salva Kiir, who heads the former southern rebel movement’s presence in the national unity cabinet but has often expressed differences with Beshir.
The Iranian president did not explicitly comment on Tuesday’s decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request summonses for two Sudanese officials suspected of war crimes in the western region of Darfur.
The move represented the first attempt to hold criminally liable officials suspected of masterminding the atrocities carried out against civilians in Darfur over the past four years.
One of the two officials is Ahmed Haroun, the current secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, while the other is Ali Kosheib, a pro-government militia leader.
“Our enemies are trying to destabilise us but we are capable of foiling their plot,” said Beshir, who also reiterated Khartoum’s support for Iran’s nuclear programme, which the West is concerned will be used to manufacture weapons.
Without naming it, Ahmadinejad also blamed the United States for destabilising Lebanon and “planting the seeds of sectarian discord” in Iraq.
The two delegations were expected to hold wide-ranging talks aimed at increasing bilateral cooperation in agriculture and industry that should culminate Thursday with the signing of a package of agreements.
“Relations are at a very good level… We have many economic and cultural projects, in agriculture, energy and oil exploration in Sudan and culture,” Ahmadinejad said before leaving Tehran.
Iran’s ambassador to Khartoum, Reza Amiri, said he hoped business partnerships could help increase the volume of two-way trade to 70 million dollars a year from the current level of 43 million dollars.
Iran has also offered its expertise in the oil industry, an area currently dominated by China, India and Malaysia.
However, an issue that has also been at the heart of Iran-Sudan ties is military cooperation, with Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein having visited Iran three times over the past year.
Hussein, a former interior minister and presidential adviser, is considered a key suspect by right groups in the abuses that have plagued Darfur since February 2002.
Iran — together with China, whose President Hu Jintao visited Khartoum earlier this month — is a key ally of Beshir’s regime and spoken out against plans for a UN deployment in Darfur.
“Sudan and Iran feel targeted and must respond by making diplomatic efforts to better explain their positions in regional and international forums,” Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Othman Ismail said this week.
Rights groups and Darfur rebels have urged the ICC to target more senior Sudanese officials, including the defence minister and Beshir himself.
(AFP)