KHARTOUM, 30 August 2007 — Sudan has rejected allegations that it is still involved in fighting in Darfur after it was accused of violating a UN arms embargo in the war-ravaged western region.
“These accusations are false and founded on made-up information from organizations and agencies with a political agenda,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Al-Sadek told AFP late Tuesday.
“The government hasn’t had any military activities recently and the Sudanese Army has no activities in Darfur,” he said. London-based rights group Amnesty International last week said Sudan was continuing to defy a UN arms embargo, citing as evidence photographs of military equipment being delivered in July to Al-Geneina airport in Darfur.
Sadek’s declaration also came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday voiced deep concern about the recent escalation in violence in Darfur. “I am deeply concerned about the recent escalation in violence in Darfur that has caused the death of hundreds of people in the last few weeks alone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sudanese opposition politician Mubarak Al-Fadil has met his lawyers for the first time since he was detained without charge more than 40 days ago, his advocate Amin Mekki said yesterday.
Fadil, the head of the opposition Ummah Party for Reform and Renewal, was among 25 people arrested last month, accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
His party’s secretary-general Abdel Jalil Al-Basha and Ali Mahmoud Hassanein of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) were also detained. None of the 25 has been charged.
“We met him (Fadil). He’s in good health,” Mekki said. “He’s no longer in solitary confinement ... they’re all together now.” Fadil was granted a long-needed endoscopy on Saturday after his health deteriorated in prison. His family said then that he was very unwell. Other lawyers also met with Hassanein.
