Arab League Council welcomes Sudan’s efforts to resolve Darfur crisis
CAIRO, Aug 8, 2004 (MENA) — The Arab League Council welcomed on Sunday the steps the Sudanese government has taken to demonstrate its commitment to the obligations stated in its agreement with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 3.
In a statement issued late Sunday, the council stressed its respect for and keenness on the sovereignty, unity and integration of the Sudanese territories and urged all other parties to do the same.
It praised the government’s positive cooperation in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution 1556.
The Arab League council convened an extraordinary meeting today to address the problem in the three restive states of Darfur.
African Union chief Alpha Oumar Konare and his special representative to Darfur Hamid al-Ghabid, UN chief’s special envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk and Abu Bakr Tanku, Nigerian state minister for foreign affairs and special envoy of the Nigerian president who chairs the current round of the AU, attended the meeting.
The AL council noted that Khartoum has lifted all restrictions on entry visas to people working in the humanitarian field.
The council also praised the deployment of police forces in Darfur, the formation of an independent panel to investigate human rights violations and allowing the deployment of monitors from the UN Higher Commission for Human Rights.
The Arab foreign ministers also lauded the arrest of several Janjawid leaders and putting them on trial as a start for a wider campaign to disarm the outlawed militia.
They welcomed an agreement between Sudan and the UN to include the Arab League General Secretariat in the Joint Implementation Mechanism to assess the enactment of the agreement reached with Annan.
The council lauded the role of the African Union in dealing with the Darfur crisis, reiterating readiness for full cooperation and support.
It asked Arab-African countries in the pan-Arab body to contribute to the ceasefire monitoring team and the AU’s protection forces.
The council appealed to the world community to give the Sudanese government enough time to prove that it would deliver on its pledges, refusing the threat to military intervention in Darfur or the imposition of sanctions on Sudan.