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Statement on Darfur UN Resolution

The Republic of Sudan (Khartoum)
PRESS RELEASE
July 30, 2004
Posted to the web August 6, 2004

By Embassy of Sudan
Washington, DC
The people and Government of Sudan regret today's resolution by the United
Nations Security Council designated 30 days to contain the security problems in
Darfur or face further actions by the U.N. This decision makes it more
difficult for the Govement of Sudan to fulfill its commitments to UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, whereby it was to bring stability and security to Darfur by
October 3 this year. Why the haste to sanction Khartoum, even before a recent
U.N. fact-finding mission has had on opportunity to report back to the Security
Council?
The United States and Great Britain have pushed for this resolution,
complaining that Khartoum has not acted with sufficient effectiveness to disarm
the Janjaweed militias and protect the residents of Darur. However, the
Government of Sudan has been using its limited resources to do everything in
its power to disarm ALL the conflicting parties in Darfur, including the
Janjaweed and the tribal-based rebel groups which initiated the fighting in the
first place, in an area the size of Texas. Thousands of police have been
deployed, many destroyed police stations have been rebuilt and hundreds of
Janjaweed have been tried and sentenced. Unfortunately, none of these efforts
have been recognized or encouraged by the resolution.
Khartoum welcomes all assistance from the United States. Britain and any other
concerned government or party in the alleviation of suffering in Darfur. We
want to work with the international community to end the conflict and bring
peace and security to Darfur as soon as possible. We are most grateful for the
generous assistance provided by various governments and a range of concerned
NGOs.
But how does imposing sanctions on Khartoum help end the fighting in Darfur?
Nobody has a greater interest in ending all conflicts in Sudan, including
Darfur, than does the Government of Sudan, but tying its hands with sanctions
only encourages the rebels to believe they have the international community on
their side, when they were the party that started the conflict in the first
place.
The United States and Britain, have been invaluable and trusted partners in
helping to bring the warring sides in 20 years of civil war to agree on a
historic compromise that is due to become a permanent peace later this summer.
The Government in Khartoum wishes to continue to work closely with Washington
and London in bringing peace to all of Sudan. Sanctions would put an
unnecessary and unhelpful obstacle in the way of the peace process.
We would hope both countries would rally the international community to work
vigorously to stop the atrocities being committed by the rebels and their
Torabora and Pushmarga militias. This is crucial to any efforts to bring peace
to Darfur.

   

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