Sudan threatens expulsion of US diplomatic mission over famine claims
March 5, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government threatened on Monday to expel the United States (US) diplomatic mission if Washington continues to propagate claims of famine in the country’s war hit regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Khartoum has been facing down international pressure, particularly from the US and the United Nations (UN), to let international aid groups operate in Sudan’s border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile where fighting between government and rebel forces has displaced more than 417,000 since it erupted in June last year.
On 12 February, the UN Security Council (UNSC) issued a US backed statement expressing ‘growing alarm’ over rising levels of malnutrition and food insecurity in some areas in the two states and calling on the government and rebels to allow international groups to deliver aid.
The Sudanese government refuses to allow international aid groups to distribute aid in the two states, and has accused Washington of seeking to feed and support the rebels who, according to Khartoum, are already supported by neighbouring South Sudan.
Ishraqa said that the claims of famine in those areas were merely a bargaining chip against the government and an attempt to undermine its image.
She went on to criticise the US policy on Sudan, saying it was based not upon a quest for reforms as Washington alleges, but rather on “dangerous political agendas”.
According to the Sudanese minister, these agendas aim to separate South Kordofan and Blue Nile as well as giving Abyei to South Sudan.
The three areas, South Kordofan and Blue Nile and Abyei, are the most contentious issues of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended more than two decades of north-south civil war in the former united Sudan and paved the way for South Sudan’s secession in July last year.
While Abyei is being hotly contested by Khartoum and Juba, the north-south border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile descended into war that pitted indigenous rebels, who fought as part of South Sudan’s army during the war, against government forces.
The Sudanese minister also criticised the illegal entry by US Congressman Frank Wolf and Journalist Nick Kristof into South Kordofan, saying it represented a blatant violation of Sudanese and international law, and showed that the two are supporting a rebel group.
The Sudanese embassy in Washington has already filed a strong protest against the fact that the two American citizens entered South Kordofan from South Sudan without a visa.
Khartoum’s bold threats come two days after the Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir launched a severe attack on the US policy towards his country. Bashir said that Khartoum was neither interested nor intimidated by whatever incentives or disincentives Washington has to offer.
He also hinted the US special envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman is collaborating with the rebels.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Bashir last week of working to undermine the CPA and the independence of South Sudan. She further warned that her country is willing to take measures against the Sudanese leader.
(ST)