Sudan terms countries abstaining from voting for UN resolution as “real friends”

KHARTOUM, Sep 19, 2004 (Xinhua) — Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir termed here Sunday the member countries in the UN Security Council, which abstained from voting for a new resolution on the Darfur crisis, as “Sudan’s real friends”.

Addressing a Sudanese cabinet meeting, the president expressed his appreciations for the stands of the four countries, namely China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria, for their abstention when the Security Council voted on the new resolution in New York Saturday evening, the Sudanese news agency (SUNA) reported.

“The four countries abstained despite pressures exerted by the United States and its attempts to obtain consensus on the Security Council resolution,” the president was quoted by SUNA as saying.

El-Bashir said “the various amendments on the resolution as well as the stands of the four countries made it less worse than what the United States has attempted to reach.

He reaffirmed keenness of the Sudanese government to solve the Darfur problem “despite the repeated failure of negotiations with the Darfur rebels”.

The Sudanese president undermined the influence of the successive Security Council resolutions and threats of economic sanctions by the Security Council and the United States on the serious efforts exerted by the government to settle the situations in Darfur.

“Those suffering in Darfur are Sudanese citizens and no one is more keen to solve this crisis than the Sudanese government”, he said.

“The Darfur problem is a Sudanese problem,” he said “The Sudanese government will not stop the efforts to settle the problem.”