Sudan optimistic over Darfur U.N. resolution
By Nima Elbagir
KHARTOUM, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Sudan is optimistic that the U.N. Security Council will recognise its achievements in improving the humanitarian and security situation in troubled Darfur, Sudan’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
Under a July 30 resolution, Sudan was given a month to make efforts to rein in marauding Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, and improve aid access to more than a million displaced by fighting in arid Darfur, or face possible sanctions.
“The obligations which the government of Sudan was asked (to do), we already fulfilled it maybe by more than 70 to 80 percent, so it will be very difficult even for those who … want to condemn … Sudan. They will find it difficult to ignore these achievements,” Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters.
After years of low-level conflict between Arab nomads and African farmers, rebels launched a revolt last year accusing the government of arming the Janjaweed to loot and burn African villages.
Sudan admits arming some militias to fight the rebels, but denies any link to the Janjaweed, whom it calls outlaws. The fighting has triggered what the United Nations calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday “a substantially increased international presence” was needed quickly in Darfur to improve the protection of the civilian population and decrease the level of violence.
Ismail said Annan was referring to monitors, not troops.
The African Union has deployed more than 100 monitors to observe a shaky April ceasefire in Darfur and 300 troops, mandated only to protect the observers.
Ismail said: “The government of Sudan is open for anything that could help bring peace and security in Darfur.”
“We are open to coordinate and cooperate with the African Union … with the international community, whether this be for humanitarian reasons, whether for security and stability or for a political settlement,” he added.
The top U.N. envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, will report to the Security Council on Thursday in a closed session, with an open debate expected next week.
Ismail said he thought the result would be balanced.
“My expectation is that the resolution will try to balance between what has been achieved by the Sudanese government, which is irrefutable, and the pressures being exerted by certain groups for the condemnation of the … government,” he said.
“Therefore I believe that the final resolution will emerge balanced,” he added.
Peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja have been bogged down by rebels and the government accusing each other of ceasefire violations. But the rebels and the government agreed on a framework for aid on Wednesday.