Sudanese gov’t continues studying UN resolution 1593

KHARTOUM, Apr 9, 2005 (Xinhua) — A senior Sudanese official criticized a UN resolution to bring war crime suspects in the Darfur conflict to international trial as unjust and threatening to Sudan’s stability, the official Sudan News Agency reported on Saturday.

Displaced Sudanese women from the Darfur region wait for relief food southeast of Khartoum, February 19, 2005. (Reuters).

Sudanese Minister of Federal Government Nafie Ali Nafie made the statement in a meeting with British Ambassador in Khartoum William Batty.

Terming the UN resolution 1593 as “unjust”, Nafie said “the resolution violates the Sudanese national sovereignty and threatens Sudan’s stability and hampers Darfur’s peace process.”

He reaffirmed Sudanese people’s rejection to the UN resolution and their readiness to defend their religious faith and homeland, referring to the recent demonstrations across Sudan against the UN resolution.

The minister also said the Sudanese government trusted the capability and honesty of its own judiciary organs in dealing with war crimes related to the Darfur conflict.

In addition, Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail said Saturday that the government has set up a special committee made up of law experts to study the resolution.

The UN Security Council adopted on March 31 resolution 1593 to refer war crime suspects in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague.

The resolution was officially rejected by the Sudanese government as a violation of its sovereignty, saying it “targets Sudan and its leadership.”

The Sudanese government said it will use all diplomatic and legal means at both regional and international levels to expose the ulterior intention of the UN resolution.

Thousands of people have been killed and many more displaced since conflicts erupted in Darfur in February 2003 when local rebels took up arms against the government for negligence.