Sudan FM denies willingness to accept peacekeepers in S. Kordofan
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July 23, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti on
Saturday denied making statements expressing openness to the idea of
deploying peacekeepers to the state of South Kordofan where fighting
is ongoing between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and units of the Sudan
People Liberation Army (SPLA) led by Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu.
JPEG - 31.9 kb
Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti (Reuters)
Karti was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) this week as saying
that Khartoum will agree to foreign troops under the condition that
there is a consent on this between all parties.
"If there’s an agreement with local leaders specifying the sending of
foreign troops, it will be welcome," Karti said.
"But at the moment we don’t have an agreement," he added.
However the Sudanese top diplomat today upon his return to Khartoum
from Vienna told state media that he made no such remarks.
Karti said that he was answering questions by some journalists
following a lecture he presented at the international academy in
Vienna stressing that he explained clearly that the situation in South
Kordofan is an internal matter which occurred after an armed attack
took place on the state and its civilians in violation of the law.
He added that Sudan has made its stance clear regarding the presence
of the international forces on its territory and that any talk about
that is out of context.
The Sudanese ambassador at the United Nations Dafalla al-Haj Osman had
qualified Karti’s statements earlier this week saying that the
minister was only referring to a small “high ranking” force or
monitors.
Osman told Inner City Press website that this could be comprised of
“ten to fifteen” people that possibly may include Europeans.
The fighting in the state which borders South Sudan and Darfur
occurred shortly after the South Kordofan’s gubernatorial elections in
which al-Hilu lost to incumbent governor Ahmed Haroun who was the
candidate of Sudan’s ruling party.
Haroun is one of the suspects wanted by the International Criminal
Court (ICC) in connection with war crimes allegedly committed in
Darfur where 300,00 are estimated to have been killed since rebellion
broke out in 2003.
The African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) headed by
former South African President Thabo Mbeki managed to broker a
preliminary accord between Khartoum and SPLM-North to de-escalate
tensions in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
But Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir later rejected the
agreement signed by his assistant Nafie Ali Nafie, ordered SAF to
continue military operations in South Kordofan and called for
arresting al-Hilu so he can be tried for what he described as crimes
against innocent civilians.
Al-Hilu told the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper in an
interview published today that it is Bashir who needs to stand before
ICC to satisfy the arrest warrant against him issued in 2009.
He claimed that his forces have defeated SAF and that the latter have
seen many defections to his side.
(ST)
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