Khatami pledges support to finding solution to Darfur crisis

KHARTOUM, Oct 5 (AFP) — Iranian President Mohamad Khatami said Tuesday he believed the Sudanese government is capable of resolving the Darfur conflict and pledged to assist it in the process.

Iranian President Mohammed Khatamei addresses the national assembly in Khartoum, Sudan, Oct 5, 2004. AP

Khatami arrived in Khartoum on Monday to start a three-day visit to Africa’s biggest country, whose government has come under pressure to act over what the United Nations terms a humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur.

In a speech to parliament congratulating Sudan for reaching peace in the south, Khatami expressed his confidence that the Sudanese government “is capable of demonstrating once again its prudence and determination for reaching a peaceful settlement to this crisis” in Darfur.

He urged the government to “assume a stern position towards those who exercise violence and inhumane and un-Islamic methods.

“While affirming the popular power and the national sovereignty of Sudan, we express our readiness to assist” in “resolving the crisis and securing the rights and freedoms to the people of that region,” said Khatami.

He called on the government and all Sudanese parties to unify their ranks for solving internal problems and overcoming their differences.

During his visit, Khatami discussed bilateral, regional and international issues with President Omar al-Beshir, with emphasis on issues of concern to the Muslim world, said Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.

The foreign minister said Beshir briefed Khatami on the peace process in southern and western Sudan and heard a briefing by Khatami on the developments in the controversy over nuclear energy between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Beshir pledged his country’s support for Iran’s right to possess and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and praised the way in which Iran is handling the question, said Ismail.

He said his Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi flew to Darfur Tuesday to see the situation there and to attend the delivery of humanitarian aid sent by Iran to needy people in Darfur.

The Iranian president arrived from a three-day visit to Algeria seen as marking a warming of relations, which were marred by a seven-year rift, when Algiers accused Tehran of backing Muslim radicals.

Five cooperation pacts were signed during Khatami’s visit there.