Sudan criticizes UNAMID chief over Darfur remarks
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July 23, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government delivered a
strongly worded criticism at the head of the African Union - United
Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari over his statements
this week before the UN Security Council (UNSC).
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The joint U.N./African Union mission head Ibrahim Gambari (Reuters)
Gambari briefed the UNSC following the Doha peace accord between
Khartoum and Liberation & Justice Movement (LJM). He is now the
interim joint AU-UN mediator after Dijibril Bassole was appointed as
foreign minister in his home country Burkina Faso.
He underscored the need for lifting the state of emergency in Darfur
to begin the process of political dialogue after the peace agreement
which was inked in mid-July.
UNAMID chief said that the dialogue process needs to be conducted in
an atmosphere free from arrests, threats and violations of human
rights.
But the head of the government’s delegation to Doha peace negotiations
Amin Hassan Omer dismissed Gambari’s demands.
"The lifting of the state of emergency is a sovereign right of the
state, as the latter [Sudan] evaluates that and does care about anyone
else’s assessments," Omer said.
"We respect personal assessments and does not concern us and we act in
what we see beneficial" he added.
The Sudanese minister of state and the senior member of the ruling
National Congress Party (NCP) made the remarks after a meeting of its
political bureau on Saturday evening in Khartoum devoted for
discussions on the political and security situation in Darfur and
Southern Kordofan.
Omer also rejected calls by Gambari to engage the head of Sudan
Liberation Movement (SLM) Abdul Wahid al-Nur in the peace process
saying that he does not represent any military force on the ground and
means nothing.
"We even know the number of vehichles that they [SLM] have, and where
it is ... Abdul-Wahid constitutes no security threat to us" he said.
The NCP official echoed same sentiments with regard to Minni Minnawi
who headed another faction of SLM before joining ranks again with
Al-Nur. Minnawi was the main signatory to the 2006 Darfur Peace
Agreement (DPA).
However he did not rule out the participation of the Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM) in the peace accord but warned that should the
rebel group choose not to then they will be isolated and sanctioned by
regional organizations.
In a related issue the Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie
threatened swift action against any rebel group that refuses to sign
the Doha accord.
This month president Omer Hassan al-Bashir said that he will no longer
negotiate on Darfur and that the peace agreement signed in Doha is the
final chapter on the conflict.
Since 2003, when the deadly conflict erupted in Darfur between rebels,
Government forces and allied militiamen, an estimated 300,000 people
have been killed and about 2.7 million others have been displaced.
(ST)
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