New UN envoy in Sudan
2007-10-23 20:33
Khartoum - The new UN envoy to Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday to assume his duties amid the worst crisis in north-south relations the country has seen since a 2005 peace deal.
Pakistani diplomat Qazi is expected to meet President Omar al-Beshir and southern former rebel leader Salva Kiir, who is also first vice-president, in the coming days, the United Nations Mission in Sudan said.
His arrival comes after Kiir's Sudan People's Liberation Movement withdrew its ministers from the national unity government on October 11.
The SPLM accuses Khartoum of failing to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 between north and south to end a decades-long civil war in which at least 1.5 million people were killed and four million displaced.
Qazi replaced Pronk
Key gripes include the failure of northern troops to redeploy from the south, equitable sharing of income from the disputed oil district of Abiye and finalising an eventual north-south border.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in September named Qazi to replace Jan Pronk who was expelled for criticising the army last year.
Qazi has been the secretary general's envoy to Iraq since 2004 where he replaced Sergio Vieira de Mello who was killed in a Baghdad bombing in August 2003.
Pronk, an outspoken 66-year-old diplomat irked the Sudanese authorities in October 2006 with statements criticising the performance of the army in Darfur and insistent calls for the deployment of UN peacekeepers there.
- SAPA