Sudan criticizes UNAMID chief over Darfur remarks

July 23, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government delivered a strongly worded criticism at the head of the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari over his statements this week before the UN Security Council (UNSC).

Gambari briefed the UNSC following the Doha peace accord between Khartoum and Liberation & Justice Movement (LJM). He is now the interim joint AU-UN mediator after Dijibril Bassole was appointed as foreign minister in his home country Burkina Faso.

He underscored the need for lifting the state of emergency in Darfur to begin the process of political dialogue after the peace agreement which was inked in mid-July.

UNAMID chief said that the dialogue process needs to be conducted in an atmosphere free from arrests, threats and violations of human rights.

But the head of the government’s delegation to Doha peace negotiations Amin Hassan Omer dismissed Gambari’s demands.

“The lifting of the state of emergency is a sovereign right of the state, as the latter [Sudan] evaluates that and does care about anyone else’s assessments,” Omer said.

“We respect personal assessments and does not concern us and we act in what we see beneficial” he added.

The Sudanese minister of state and the senior member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) made the remarks after a meeting of its political bureau on Saturday evening in Khartoum devoted for discussions on the political and security situation in Darfur and Southern Kordofan.

Omer also rejected calls by Gambari to engage the head of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Abdul Wahid al-Nur in the peace process saying that he does not represent any military force on the ground and means nothing.

“We even know the number of vehichles that they [SLM] have, and where it is … Abdul-Wahid constitutes no security threat to us” he said.

The NCP official echoed same sentiments with regard to Minni Minnawi who headed another faction of SLM before joining ranks again with Al-Nur. Minnawi was the main signatory to the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA).

However he did not rule out the participation of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in the peace accord but warned that should the rebel group choose not to then they will be isolated and sanctioned by regional organizations.

In a related issue the Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie threatened swift action against any rebel group that refuses to sign the Doha accord.

This month president Omer Hassan al-Bashir said that he will no longer negotiate on Darfur and that the peace agreement signed in Doha is the final chapter on the conflict.

Since 2003, when the deadly conflict erupted in Darfur between rebels, Government forces and allied militiamen, an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and about 2.7 million others have been displaced.

(ST)