Sudan tells US top diplomat in Khartoum ‘not to offer any advices’
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June 12, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s foreign minister, Ali Karti has
asked the United States charge d’affaires (CDA) in Khartoum Joseph
Stafford to stop offering any advices to the government on its recent
decision to halt oil flow from landlocked South Sudan.
JPEG - 20.2 kb
The US charge d’affaires to Sudan Joseph Stafford speaks during a
press conference in the capital Khartoum, on April 21, 2013 (ASHRAF
SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)
Last Saturday, Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir ordered the
closure of all pipelines carrying oil from South Sudan. He told a
public rally in the capital Khartoum that the move was in response to
South Sudan’s funding of Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebels
fighting his government in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Stafford, according to the US State department spokesperson Jen Psaki,
met with Karti on Monday and expressed Washington’s deep concern on
Bashir’s decision urged Sudan to reverse its decision.
Psaki, who was speaking at the state department’s daily briefing on
Tuesday, added that Stafford also reiterated the need to fully and
immediately implement all aspects of last year’s cooperation
agreements.
In September of last year, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series
of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights,
security issues, banking, border trade among others.
Last March, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for
these cooperation agreements.
But a statement issued by Sudan’s foreign ministry today denied the US
State department version of story regarding meeting with Stafford.
"The foreign ministry had summoned the U.S. charge d’affaires, and the
foreign minister told him of the government’s decision to shut down
the pipeline”.
The statement went on to say that foreign minister asked Stafford “to
convey to the U.S. government that Sudan has taken this decision after
exhausting all diplomatic efforts to persuade South Sudan’s government
to stop supporting rebels, and harboring Darfur armed group, and
withdraw from several Sudanese areas occupied by the southern army”.
It added that the foreign minister told Stafford that “If the US was
concerned about the negative impact of this decision on South Sudan’s
government, it should offer advice to its friends in the south to stop
supporting and harboring rebels and withdraw from Sudanese territory,
otherwise the government’s decision to halt oil flow would remain in
place ”.
At the meeting Karti cut short Stafford and prevented him from
providing any input or response telling him that he was summoned to be
notified on Khartoum’s decision only, the statement said.
US relations with Sudan have been strained for more than two decades
with Khartoum complaining that Washington sides with Juba.
Sudan has been under the US blacklist of states sponsoring terrorism
since 1993 on allegations of harbouring Islamist militants despite
credible reports of Sudan being a cooperative intelligence partner of
Washington in the "war on terror".
Sudan is also subject to comprehensive economic sanctions since 1997
over terrorism charges as well as human right abuses. Further
sanctions, particularly on weapons, have been imposed since the 2003
outbreak of violence in the western Darfur region.
(ST)
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