Riyadh calls for greater UN role in Iraq, hails Khartoum efforts in Darfur
RIYADH, Aug 16 (AFP) — Saudi Arabia called for a greater United Nations role in Iraq to help end the conflict there and backed Khartoum’s efforts in attempting “to contain the crisis” in Sudan’s embattled region of Darfur.
“The cabinet expressed its deep regret for the deterioration of security in some Iraqi regions … and calls for a greater role for the United Nations in seeking an end to the bloodshed,” said a statement issued after the kingdom’s weekly cabinet meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
The cabinet hoped the Iraqi national congress would help find a way to put an “end to the fighting and concentrate on (finding) a political solution that would reinstate Iraq’s soverignty and stability,” said the statment carried by the official news agency SPA.
King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, who headed the cabinet meeting, called for an “international position that would guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people, according to international law, and then the reactivation of the hampered peace process.”
The cabinet also praised the “great efforts of the Sudanese government to contain the crisis in Darfur and its persistent effort to reinstall stability”.
It also hailed Khartoum’s “cooperation with various parties and humanitarian organisations in dealing with the crisis”, the statement said.
On August 2, Saudi Arabia voiced support for the efforts of the Sudanese government and the African Union, and called for “refraining from using the language of threats which complicates things”.
The UN Security Council passed a July 30 resolution giving the Khartoum government 30 days to bring the situation in Darfur under control, as it has been accused of arming and backing the Janjaweed militia in a campaign to exterminate the black, non-Arab African population.
The conflict, described by UN agencies as the trigger for currently the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis, has claimed up to 50,000 lives and driven more than a million people from their homes.
Tens of thousands have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad.