Pakistan urges world community to save Sudan from brink of ‘grave tragedy’
ISLAMABAD, July 27 (AFP) — Pakistan has called for concerted international efforts to save Sudan from a looming crisis that could turn into a “grave tragedy”, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
President Pervez Musharraf had made “strenuous efforts” in the past week to help address the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region where a conflict has claimed up to 50,000 lives, a ministry spokesman said in a statement.
“In his contacts with the world leaders, the president emphasised that the situation should not be allowed to spin out of control in order to save Sudan and the international community from a grave tragedy,” he said.
Musharraf stressed the need for the international community “to use all political means to resolve the pressing problems in order to ward off a bigger crisis,” he said.
The president spoke by telephone with his Sudanese counterpart, Omar Hasan Ahmad AlBashir, on Monday and underlined the implementation of commitments between the United Nations and the Sudanese government provided the framework for a “viable solution of the serious problems” in Darfur.
Musharraf had also spoken with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell to try to convince them to find a diplomatic solution rather than threatening sanctions.
“During the past few weeks, leaders of several countries, including Sweden, Finland, Germany and the US, have requested President Musharraf to play a greater role in defusing the situation in Darfur,” the spokesman said.
“The president will continue his efforts on the Darfur situation.”
Pakistan, as a member of the UN Security Council, has been actively engaged in discussing the draft text of a resolution on the situation in Darfur, he said.
Sudan’s western Darfur region is in the throes of what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has claimed up to 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million have been displaced, with about 200,000 people taking refuge in neighbouring Chad, according to UN officials.