Sudan Hopes Dialogue With US Will Succeed - Bernama, The Malaysian National News Agency, June 29
KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- Sudan is hopeful that the on-going dialogue with the United States (US) will lead to the lifting of the UN sanctions imposed four years ago and resolving of other thorny issues, its Minister of External Relations Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail said today.
He said Sudan was ready to cooperate with the US in the economic and political field but he was quick to warn that his country would not accept any outside interference in its domestic affairs.
"So we are hoping this dialogue will reach a point where the US will respect the concerns of others and will not always confront Sudan and (continue to) support the sanctions," he told Bernama in an interview here.
Mustafa is here to attend the 27th session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers. He was earlier asked to comment on the latest developments concerning the dialogue with the US which started in October last year.
Since then, the US had appointed a special envoy, Harry Johnston who visited the North African country in March and June resulting in both countries exchanging letters on various matters.
The UN Security Council imposed sanctions in 1996 after accusing Sudan of supporting terrorism.
The US which was the main proponent of the the sanctions had come up with its own set of even more severe sanctions and said it would not lift them until Khartoum changed its policy towards certain groups.
The sanctions among others limit the number of Sudan's diplomatic personnel abroad as well as the entry or transit of that country's Government officials.
Meanwhile the UN Security Council members had agreed to a US request to delay debate on a draft resolution calling for the lifting of sanctions until the middle of November.
In August 1998, the US fired missiles at a pharmaceutical facility in Khartoum claiming that it was about to produce chemical weapons but this was strongly denied by Sudan. This further strained Sudan-US relations but the US did not break off diplomatic relations and still maintains a low level of diplomatic representation in Khartoum.
Mustafa said the US had now come to a point where it realised that they cannot solve these problems through confrontation but only through meaningful dialogue.
"That is why I am hopeful that in this dialogue we will succeed in solving our problems," he said.
Mustafa said in the US itself, there were now two lines, one that believed in cooperation and dialogue to solve these problems and another which believed in confrontation.
"We believe that support for the dialogue is growing.So it depends very much on how long this group for dialogue will be influential and strong enoungh to continue (the dialogue)," he said.
Mustafa said Sudan agreed to the dialogue taking into consideration that the US was an important country and it too had its own concerns regarding Africa and other regional affairs.
"We are not against (the US) responding to that concern.But it should be within the values of non-interference in Sudan's affairs," he said.
Mustafa said many organisations and countries including Malaysia, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League and the UN Security Council permanent members such as China, France and Russia were against the sanctions and only the US remains as the stumbling block.
"Malaysia has been active and fully supportive of Sudan which is very much acknowledged by our government and the people," he said. |
