Saturday, November 18, 2006

Sudanese media downplays UN-AU meeting on Darfur - BBC

BBC Monitoring via ST 18 Nov 2006 - excerpt:
President Bashir's speech at the end of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit in Djibouti presented the Sudanese state media with a dilemma: how to present the president as a man committed to peace in Darfur when he remains vocal in opposing new UN initiatives to end the crisis. A 16 November report by the Suna web site cited President Bashir urging the international community to "support the African Union to complete its mission in Darfur and give a model for solving conflicts through the regional organizations". However, the same report has the president rejecting UN Security Council Resolution No 1706 saying it "poses [a] great obstacle before the peace process and violation to the country’s sovereignty". The president contradicts himself further in the same story when he says that his government was "working in close cooperation" with the UN and AU to "develop the plan of implementation of the support package proposed by UN to the African Union".
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Nov 17 2006 ST report - Darfur peace mediation to be under UN-AU leadership:
The joint UN AU meeting held last Thursday in headquarter of the African body here agreed to maintain the Darfur peace talks under the African Union, and on the basis of May peace agreement.

The UN – AU meeting stressed in its conclusions that the Darfur Peace Agreement inked between Khartoum and SLM- Minawi on 5 Mai is the only basis for the expected peace talks. It also clearly indicated that the mediation should be under AU and UN leadership.

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