Sudan SPLM reject any probe of FM Alor by ruling NCP

April 7, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The southern ex-rebel group in Sudan rejected any move to query foreign minister Deng Alor over statements he made during his visit to the US.

“No one can hold foreign minister Alor, a member of SPLM political bureau accountable but the movement and its chairman Salva Kiir” SPLM spokesperson Yen Mathew told the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat today.

“SPLM ministers are not children at a school where they are taught what say or be quiet. They tried it with Pagan Amum and they failed. These are hallucinations and phobia spread by the ruling party…they should seek solution to problems facing the country” he said.

Media reports yesterday quoted a senior unnamed Sudanese official as saying that the presidency will summon Alor upon his return from Washington on statements he made criticizing the decision to expel more than a dozen aid groups from the country last month and his position on the International Criminal Court (ICC) move against president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

“Alor talks about the ICC in his capacity as an SPLM member even though he has a higher position as a foreign minister besides the fact that he is a crucial partner in government” the official said.

But today another official speaking to the independent Al-Sahafa daily downplayed any reports on summoning Alor.

The Sudanese foreign minister speaking last Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars said that he was not consulted about the government’s decision to expel the groups from North Sudan.

Alor, who is a leading figure at the southern ex-rebel Sudan People Liberation movement (SPLM), revealed that he had read the news in the newspaper like anybody else and that he had been angered by the move.

Mathew stressed that the expulsion of aid groups was taken by head of security and intelligence bureau saying “we reject this decision”.

Alor speaking to the newspaper upon his return to Khartoum said that the ruling National Congress Party and SPLM discussed the decision and both sides were on the opposite end of the spectrum.

He also said his view on the ICC was in response to a question on the SPLM’s position and emphasized that the NCP must deal with the court and the UN Security Council (UNSC).

“We have the right to discuss opinion on issues affecting the SPLM” Alor said.

The SPLM is the main partner in the government of national unity (GoNU) with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) but have often complained that they are not part of the decision making process on foreign policy issues.

Furthermore despite his position as a foreign minister Alor was excluded from a meeting between Sudan 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held last September.

The SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum, who was the Sudanese federal minister for cabinet affairs, was probed by presidency over statements describing Sudan as a failed state but no disciplinary action was taken against him.

(ST)