March 5, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government threatened on
Monday to expel the United States (US) diplomatic mission if Washington
continues to propagate claims of famine in the country’s war hit regions
of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
- Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti (R) speaks during a joint news conference with the US special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman (Reuters)
“We have informed the US deputy chief of mission in Sudan, Dennis
Hankins, that unless they quit their propaganda of famine in the three
areas, we will expel them,” Sudan’s minister of international
cooperation, Ishraqa Said Mahmoud, said in a press conference in the
capital Khartoum.
Khartoum has been facing down international pressure, particularly
from the US and the United Nations (UN), to let international aid groups
operate in Sudan’s border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile where
fighting between government and rebel forces has displaced more than
417,000 since it erupted in June last year.
On 12 February, the UN Security Council (UNSC) issued a US backed
statement expressing ’growing alarm’ over rising levels of malnutrition
and food insecurity in some areas in the two states and calling on the
government and rebels to allow international groups to deliver aid.
The Sudanese government refuses to allow international aid groups to
distribute aid in the two states, and has accused Washington of seeking
to feed and support the rebels who, according to Khartoum, are already
supported by neighbouring South Sudan.
Ishraqa said that the claims of famine in those areas were merely a
bargaining chip against the government and an attempt to undermine its
image.
She went on to criticise the US policy on Sudan, saying it was based
not upon a quest for reforms as Washington alleges, but rather on
“dangerous political agendas”.
According to the Sudanese minister, these agendas aim to separate
South Kordofan and Blue Nile as well as giving Abyei to South Sudan.
The three areas, South Kordofan and Blue Nile and Abyei, are the most
contentious issues of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)
which ended more than two decades of north-south civil war in the former
united Sudan and paved the way for South Sudan’s secession in July last
year.
While Abyei is being hotly contested by Khartoum and Juba, the
north-south border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile descended into
war that pitted indigenous rebels, who fought as part of South Sudan’s
army during the war, against government forces.
The Sudanese minister also criticised the illegal entry by US
Congressman Frank Wolf and Journalist Nick Kristof into South Kordofan,
saying it represented a blatant violation of Sudanese and international
law, and showed that the two are supporting a rebel group.
The Sudanese embassy in Washington has already filed a strong protest
against the fact that the two American citizens entered South Kordofan
from South Sudan without a visa.
Khartoum’s bold threats come two days after the Sudanese president
Omer Al-Bashir launched a severe attack on the US policy towards his
country. Bashir said that Khartoum was neither interested nor
intimidated by whatever incentives or disincentives Washington has to
offer.
He also hinted the US special envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman is collaborating with the rebels.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Bashir last week of
working to undermine the CPA and the independence of South Sudan. She
further warned that her country is willing to take measures against the
Sudanese leader.
(ST)
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