Sudan ready to reconsider UN resolution 1706 – official
By Michael Georgy
March 30, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has agreed to review the overall package the United Nations has proposed for easing the violence in Darfur, the minister of state for foreign affairs said on Friday.
“This is a breakthrough because we have agreed to sit down and discuss the mandates in 1706,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“We are open to sitting down and discussing the overall package in Darfur, not just U.N. troops but everything,” Karti added, saying the review would include a “heavy support package” such as planes.
The resolution calls for 22,500 U.N. troops and police officers to support the 7,000-member AU force in Sudan.
The African force has been unable to stop the violence that has left an estimated 200,000 people dead and forced 2.5 million from their homes since rebels took up arms against the government in 2003.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Bashir has rejected the U.N. resolution as an attempt to restore colonial rule, but has welcomed the world body’s support for the ill-equipped AU force.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said at an Arab summit in Riyadh on Thursday that Sudan has agreed to allow U.N. logistical support to help the AU mission.
He called it “a breakthrough that never happened before” and expressed hope it would lead to an immediate solution to the humanitarian tragedy in western Sudan.
The announcement came after Bashir met U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, Saudi King Abdullah and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who heads an East African body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.
US SCEPTICISM
A senior Bush administration official expressed scepticism about Thursday’s announcement and said Washington would wait to see whether Khartoum had indeed reversed course.
Washington says a genocide has taken place in Darfur through government support for marauding nomadic militia groups, a charge Khartoum denies.
Before the Saudi announcement, U.S. officials from the State, Defense, Treasury and other departments had told Reuters that Washington would “tighten the screws” on Sudan with fresh measures, likely within days.
That would include a further limit on dollar transactions, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Karti, a member of Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party, dismissed the U.S. plan.
“Sanctions are not new. They have been using sanctions as a weapon for years. They will not change anything and we will just go on. It is just unfortunate that instead of being positive at a time when we are trying to reach a comprehensive peace they are talking about negative steps,” he said.
“This will only hurt our efforts.”
Only one of three rebel groups signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government last year. U.N. officials say only a comprehensive political deal can end Darfur’s suffering.
The United States also aims to pressure Bashir militarily by helping rebuild forces of the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which was at war with the north until a 2005 peace deal.
Karti said he was baffled by the plan and warned the United States would meet stiff opposition from all Sudanese.
“This is very strange. If you look at the south not one bullet is being fired and now the Americans are threatening to rebuild the army in the south,” he said.
“This would threaten to destabilise the country and unite all of Sudan against the Americans — the government, all the rebel groups in Darfur and the south.”
Salva Kiir, the ex-rebel turned vice president, has said attacks in southern Sudan by militias allied with the country’s ruling party will jeopardise the 2005 north-south peace deal.
(Reuters)