KHARTOUM, 6 October 2004 — Iranian President Mohamad Khatami said yesterday he believed the Sudanese government is capable of resolving the Darfur conflict and pledged to assist it in the process.
Khatami arrived in Khartoum on Monday to start a three-day visit to Africa’s biggest country, whose government has come under pressure to act over what the United Nations terms a humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur.
In a speech to Parliament congratulating Sudan for reaching peace in the south, Khatami expressed his confidence that the Sudanese government “is capable of demonstrating once again its prudence and determination for reaching a peaceful settlement to this crisis” in Darfur.
He urged the government to “assume a stern position toward those who exercise violence and inhumane and un-Islamic methods. “While affirming the popular power and the national sovereignty of Sudan, we express our readiness to assist” in “resolving the crisis and securing the rights and freedoms to the people of that region,” said Khatami.
He called on the government and all Sudanese parties to unify their ranks for solving internal problems and overcoming their differences.During his visit, Khatami discussed bilateral, regional and international issues with President Omar Bashir, with emphasis on issues of concern to the Muslim world, said Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.
The foreign minister said Bashir briefed Khatami on the peace process in southern and western Sudan and heard a briefing by Khatami on the developments in the controversy over nuclear energy between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Bashir pledged his country’s support for Iran’s right to possess and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and praised the way in which Iran is handling the question, said Ismail. He said his Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi flew to Darfur yesterday to see the situation there and to attend the delivery of humanitarian aid sent by Iran to needy people in Darfur.
Sudan’s government yesterday accused rebels of trying to increase international pressure on Khartoum. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report to the Security Council on Monday the Sudan government had made no progress since last month in stopping attacks on civilians or punishing those behind atrocities in Darfur.
But Ismail pointed the finger at rebels operating in the troubled region. “They want to give a message to the international community that the situation is deteriorating and that the international community should continue putting pressure on the government of Sudan,” Ismail told reporters in Khartoum.
He welcomed Libyan plan to host a summit of African leaders and officials from the Khartoum government and Darfuri rebels to spur on talks aimed at ending the conflict.
A Libyan government source said Tripoli would host the meeting on Oct. 15 or 17, including the leaders of Chad and Egypt — which like Libya border Sudan — as well as Nigeria, which has hosted Darfur peace talks in its capital Abuja.
“It is clear that the summit will concentrate on the issue of Darfur and work to make the Abuja talks succeed,” Ismail said. Khartoum has reported increased rebel attacks on villages and government posts in Darfur in the past two weeks or so, saying guerrillas, who launched their uprising in February 2003, were trying to ratchet up international pressure.
The UN Security Council has threatened Sudan with possible sanctions if it fails to stop the violence in Darfur, which the United Nations says has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“Today, still increasing numbers of the population of Darfur are exposed, without any protection from the government, to hunger, fear and violence,” Annan said in a report, which was drafted by his special representative for Darfur, Jan Pronk. Pronk was to brief the council on the report yesterday.
Ismail said Britain, the former colonial power, could push all sides to reach an agreement at peace talks in Nigeria due to reconvene on Oct. 21, after an earlier round of talks in Abuja collapsed last month.
The foreign minister was speaking before a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, due to arrive in Khartoum today, becoming the most senior Western government official to visit the country since the Darfur conflict erupted.
Ismail also said he hoped for more aid for reconstruction from Britain, one of the biggest aid donors to Darfur.
After years of skirmishes between Arab nomadic tribes and mainly non-Arab farmers over scarce resources, rebels launched their revolt accusing Khartoum of neglect and supporting Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African villages.
The US has called the violence genocide. But Sudan has dismissed the charge and denies supporting the Janjaweed militiamen, calling them outlaws. Rebels in west Sudan have called for power and wealth to be shared more equally in Africa’s largest country.
