Khartoum (AFP)
Sudan “rejects” the new U.S. policy toward Khartoum although it acknowledges the importance of its ties with Washington, an advisor to President Omar al-Bashir said in remarks published on Saturday.
“We categorically reject the U.S. strategy in its current form,” said Mustafa Osman Ismail, a former foreign minister, quoted in local newspapers.
We thought the Obama administration would pay attention to the credibility of the United States, but it has taken the same direction
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Mustafa Osman Ismail
The United States on Monday announced a new policy of “broad engagement” with Sudan but warned of a tough response if Khartoum ignores incentives to stop “abuses” and “genocide” in Darfur.
Ismail condemned the use of the genocide label for the war in Darfur, western Sudan.
“We thought the (Barack) Obama administration would pay attention to the credibility of the United States, but it has taken the same direction” as his predecessor, George W. Bush, he said.
Ismail said the international community has confirmed that the Darfur conflict did not amount to genocide.
“Our relations with the United States are undoubtedly important,” he said, while stressing that ties must be based on mutual respect, common interests and non-interference in each other’s affairs.
U.S. officials said Washington would engage in talks with members of the Khartoum government other than Bashir, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
Washington also said it would watch for “credible elections” scheduled for next year under a fragile 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a north-south civil war.
In Khartoum, a top advisor to Bashir, Ghazi Salaheddin, on Monday described the genocide label as “unfortunate” but said that Obama’s policy shift had “positive points.”
We don’t see the extreme ideas and suggestions which we used to see in the past
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Ghazi Salaheddin
Genocide
“We don’t see the extreme ideas and suggestions which we used to see in the past,” Salaheddin told reporters. “I will say it is a strategy of engagement, not a strategy of isolation.”
The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.
The government says 10,000 people have been killed.
حركة العدل و المساواة السودانية
موقع متخصص بنقل آخر الأخبار و البيانات و القرارات لحركة العدل و المساواة السودانية