Sudan has 'positive' response

2004-05-06 10:27

Khartoum - The Sudanese government has handed to the Chadian mediator its response to an African Union (AU) proposal for a mechanism to monitor a ceasefire it reached with Darfur rebels in the Chadian capital Ndjamena last month, Omdurman radio reported pm Thursday.

The response to the proposal was handed over on Wednesday, the state-run radio quoted Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail as saying.

He declined to elaborate other than adding the response was "positive and in conformity with the agreement."

Parties other than the AU would finance the mechanism, Ismail said removing fears that the AU might be lacking in the resources to do the job.

Eash side accuses the other of violating the agreement in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which human rights groups have described as a disaster area, blaming Khartoum for widespread depredations.

Ismail vowed on Wednesday his government would not be "intimidated" after US diplomats staged a walkout at the United Nations in protest at Sudan's re-election to the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Before its walkout from the UN Economic and Social Council on Tuesday, Washington accused the Sudanese authorities of a litany of abuses in Darfur, which it said made them unworthy of reelection to the UNCHR.

Political issue

Another Sudanese minister hit back earlier on Wednesday at the growing US criticism of his government's policies in Darfur, warning relief operations in the region might "be impaired if the Darfur problem is turned into a political issue."

State Humanitarian Affairs Minister Mohamed Yusuf Abdullah also warned aid organisations not to take positions on the civil war in the region between rebel groups drawn from indigenous non-Arab ethnic minorities, and government troops and their Arab militia allies.

According to the United Nations, since the start of the Darfur rebellion in February last year, well over a million people have fled their homes, with 95 000 of them taking refuge in neighbouring Chad.

In Ndjamena on Wednesday a Chad government official said Chadian soldiers and militiamen backing the Sudanese government clashed 25km inside Chadian territory.

Moctar Wawa Dahabune said, "This clash is the consequence of several frequent and repeated incursions by Janjawid militiamen into Chadian territory."

A Chadian military source here said that six Chadian civilians were killed as well as a Chadian officer, while several soldiers were wounded.

"The Chadian government deplores these incursions and demands that the Sudanese government get control over the Janjawid army so as not to damage relations between the two countries," Dahabune said.

A member of the Chadian mediating team, Allami Ahmat, last week accused the Janjawid of attacking locals within Chad in the same area and killing one civilian.

- AFP