Monday, February 23, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI urged the British government to play a positive role for the benefit of peace in Sudan

Pope Benedict says "We should give priority to peace efforts first, then we look for judicature".

Source: Sudan Vision Daily, February 23, 2009, Khartoum - Staff Writer:
Pope Benedict: Pushing Peace Efforts in Sudan Better than Supporting ICC
Pope Benedict XVI urged the British government to play a positive role for the benefit of peace in Sudan through all regional and international axes.

Pope Benedict hailed the goodwill declaration signed between the Sudanese government and JEM, affirming that the deal found international support and the concerned parties should push the agreement forward to achieve political settlement for Darfur issue.

He said that the international community should concentrate on the peace in Sudan instead of the ICC decisions.

"We should give priority to peace efforts first, then we look for judicature", he stated.

The Pope called for concentration of cementing the pillars and basis of peace in Sudan through the peace agreements signed in the South, Darfur, Southern Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Eastern Sudan.
Note, so far I have not been able to find another report to verify Sudan Vision Daily's report. I hope that the report is true. Give peace a chance.
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From Sudan Radio Service - Sallah Gosh - ICC Supporters Will Be Decapitated - 22 February 2009 - (Khartoum):
The director of national security, lieutenant-general Sallah Abdalla Gosh, has warned that anybody who promotes the International Criminal Court’s agenda in Sudan will have his head and hands cut off.

Speaking to a group of politicians and intellectuals from southern Sudan to celebrate his promotion as first lieutenant-general in Khartoum on Friday, Sallah Gosh said the security service is ready to decapitate anybody who wants to promote the ICC’s political agenda in Sudan. He described the ICC issue as a very serious one where there can be no compromise.

He went on to say that the Government of National Unity will continue to protect members of diplomatic missions and other foreigners in Khartoum who respect diplomatic terms and the different peace agreements signed by the government of Sudan.

He warned that whoever violates these agreements will “only have themselves to blame”.

Gosh said his party came to power as "fanatical Muslims but they have changed and became liberal peace-lovers and they believe in peaceful co-existence".

Gosh urged the people of southern Sudan to work for the unity of the country, saying that the majority of southern Sudanese are for unity.

This was the first time that the chief of security and national intelligence has addressed southern Sudanese in a public gathering in Khartoum.

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