Russia to hold Darfur, South Sudan conference next October

July 25, 2009 (NEW YORK) — An international conference on Darfur and southern Sudan would be held in Moscow next October, Russian special envoy to Sudan announced today.

Mikhail Margelov during a visit to Sudan last January said Russia intends to a conference on Darfur stressing that Moscow is actively engaged on Sudan issues and wants to play an active role in UN Security Council Africa and in world affairs.

Margelov, who attended a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Sudan, on Friday told the Itar Tass that a conference on Darfur and Southern Sudan will be held in Moscow in early October.

He further said that the former South African president Thabo Mbeki who heads an African Union panel to look into the Darfur crisis, and all ambassadors to UN Security Council have confirmed their participation in the forum.

“A major Sudanese delegation from the North and South is expected to arrive,” he added.

The envoy had made visits to Darfur and the Southern capital of Juba.

Russia and Sudan have stronger military relations than economic ones with the former selling weapons including fighter jets.

The Russian special envoy during the UN Security Council meeting underlined African Union concerns about the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

He told the Council that African states believed peace in Darfur should be top priority, a view that was confirmed by envoys from council members Uganda, Burkina Faso and Libya.

The US administration agreed with Russia, China, Britain and France that restarting the stalled Darfur peace process should take precedence over arresting Bashir for allegedly overseeing mass murder and deportations in Darfur, reported Reuters on Friday.

(ST)