NCP official says UN missions play “greatest role” in stirring up Sudan’s conflict
December 29, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – A senior hard-line member of the dominant National Congress Party in north Sudan has accused the UN missions in his country of being the main actors in sustaining internal conflicts, as reported by Sudan’s official news agency SUNA on Wednesday.
Tension has recently been on the rise between Sudan and the UN over the handling of funds allocated to the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) program, which is designed to rehabilitate former civil war soldiers.
Sudan has accused the UN of mismanaging the funds after some foreign media sources reported that most of the program’s funds were funneled into “exorbitant salaries.”
According to Nafi, the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur was a result of “tribal overlapping,” adding that Israel and Western military bases also play a patent role in conflict zones.
Nafi said he although he was in support of resolving Darfur conflict but the negotiations should not be open-ended and must have a ceiling to which it ends.
Sudan’s president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir on Wednesday warned that his government would withdraw from Darfur peace talks in the Qatari capital of Doha if no agreement is reached today, Thursday.
Darfur peace talks in Doha is held with the participation of one rebel faction, the Liberation and Justice Front, which is an umbrella group of several minor rebels groups.
The two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdul Wahid Nur, remain outside the negotiations.
Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when rebels belonging mostly to African ethnic groups took up arms against the central government, accusing it of marginalizing the region in terms of development and power-sharing.
(ST)