From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Tue Oct 27 2009 - 22:40:54 EST
Sudan 'rejects' new US approach
Sat Oct 24, 9:37 am ET
KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan "rejects" the new US policy toward Khartoum
although it acknowledges the importance of its ties with Washington, an
advisor to President Omar al-Beshir said in remarks published on Saturday.
"We categorically reject the US strategy in its current form," said Mustafa
Osman Ismail, a former foreign minister, quoted in local newspapers.
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.
US officials said Washington would engage in talks with members of the
Khartoum government other than Beshir, 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 Beshir, 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," 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.
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