Sudan backs down

2004-07-31 20:22

Khartoum - The Sudanese government on Saturday reluctantly accepted a UN Security Council resolution on its troubled Darfur region, reversing an earlier position, a minister said.

"Although we don't like the resolution, we are already committed to the implementation of its measures on the basis of the agreement that was concluded with (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan," the minister of state for foreign affairs, Neguib al-Kheir Abdul Wahab, told AFP.

Abul Wahab was referring to an agreement between the government and the United Nations earlier this month under which Sudan agreed to implement a series of measures regarding the war-torn region.

They include a lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid, facilitating access and reining in pro-government Arab militias blamed for atrocities in Darfur where thousands of people risk starvation.

Abdul Wahab said the UN resolution "was unnecessarily rushed by the Security Council, although there is nothing new in it."

He also complained that while the deal with Annan gave the Sudanese government up to 90 days to deliver on its commitments, the resolution cut the period by a third.

The UN resolution passed on Friday gave Khartoum 30 days to bring the crisis in Darfur under control or face international action.

Abdul Wahab added that resolution concentrated on Khartoum and made little or no demands of the rebel groups that have been fighting the government for the past 17 months.

He argued this would send the "wrong signal to the rebels" and encourage them to stay away from negotiations.

The Sudanese council of ministers will release its official reaction to the UN resolution on Sunday, he added.

The United Nations estimates that some 50 000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur, with more than one million displaced from their homes as a result of the fighting between government forces and their Arab militia allies and the two main rebel groups in the region.

- AFP