Sudan against UN peace force
Sudanese Justice minister Mohamed Ali Elmurdi (right) with Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya, Mr Majok Goandong, at a press conference in Nairobi yesterday.
The Sudanese Government is still opposed to international peacekeepers and will not hand over any of its nationals, including the rebels, for trial to any other party.
Sudanese Justice minister Mohamed Ali Elmurdi (right) with Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya, Mr Majok Goandong, at a press conference in Nairobi yesterday. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
Sudanese minister for Justice Mohamed Ali Elmurdi said in Nairobi yesterday that African forces already in Darfur region had done a good job, as normality was returning to the area.
AU forces
He also accused the international community of withholding support to the AU forces to justify bringing in international peace keepers.
“We are totally and absolutely opposed to blue berets other than peace keepers from Africa under the command of the African Union who have proven to be capable of undertaking the mandate. The crisis in Darfur region does not threaten international peace. No sovereign country would allow foreign forces to take over the primary functions of its own forces,” Mr Elmurdi said during an international press conference at the Grand Regency Hotel yesterday.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), he said, had no right to assume jurisdiction of trying Sudanese nationals indicted for war crimes because the country had never ratified its charter, although it had signed the agreement.
The ICC systems were meant to complement those of States and not replace them, he added.
He defended a Government minister accused of atrocities against the people of Darfur, saying his Government has investigated the claims and found no shred of truth in them.
Their investigations had also allegedly established that Government forces were not guilty of rape as it has been claimed.
The Government has also supplied a list of people it was trying or had punished for wrongs in Darfur to the international community as evidence they were dealing with those accused.
In February, ICC’s chief prosecutor named the minister and a militia commander as the first suspects he wants tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. It has concluded there are reasonable grounds to try Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Sudanese Minister of State for the Interior, and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb over crimes against civilians in the volatile region. More than two million people have been forced to flee their homes in Darfur since Government forces and allied Janjaweed militias began fighting rebel forces in 2003. At least 200,000 people have been killed.
—Additional reporting by Agencies
