Washington slams Darfur arrests prior to referendum

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Al Arabiya.net)

The United States early Tuesday “strongly condemned” the reported harassment or intimidation of
people who spoke with the U.N. Security Council delegation in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region early this month, as the U.N. peacekeeping chief warned that deploying more peacekeepers along South Sudan border with the north will not prevent a possible war. “Any such actions are unacceptable,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement. “Since learning of the detentions and reported intimidation, we have been actively working through various channels, through direct communication with the Sudanese, through the U.S. embassy, through the U.N. and in conjunction with other Security Council member states, to establish the facts and ensure the safety of all who interacted with the Security Council during our visit,” she said.

Since learning of the detentions and reported intimidation, we have been actively working through various channels, through direct communication with the Sudanese, through the U.S. embassy, through the U.N. and in conjunction with other Security Council member states, to establish the facts and ensure the safety of all who interacted with the Security Council during our visit

U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Susan Rice

Potential danger

“We have yet to receive any information that alleviates our deep concern over this issue,” Rice added.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley earlier said that the U.S. was working to avoid the danger that could develop if Southern Sudan fails to hold a long-planned referendum on whether to secede from Sudan and form a separate nation,

Preparations are behind schedule for the Jan. 9 referendum, a key part of the 2005 peace agreement that ended the civil war between Sudan’s Muslim north and the oil-producing south, where Christianity and traditional beliefs dominate. A disputed border area, Abyei, will hold its own referendum on which side to join.

We recognize the potential danger if credible referenda are not held, Crowley said at a briefing. That’s why we are working intensively to try to get the parties to agree so that the referenda on the future of South Sudan and Abyei can be held on time.

Southern Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said Friday that any delays risk a return to instability and violence of a massive scale.

A recent study by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute shows a majority of Southern Sudanese favoring independence, while Sudan’s government is campaigning for voters in the region to reject secession.

Washington concern

Sudan is sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest crude oil producer, pumping 490,000 barrels a day, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Most of that oil is pumped in Southern Sudan, and proceeds are currently split between the north and the south.

Washington has stepped up its engagement with Sudan in the countdown to the votes.

U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month said Sudan was one of his top priorities, adding he wanted to prevent war and avert the risk of conflict opening up a new space for terrorist activity in the region.

Obama has offered Sudan incentives including trade, investment, debt relief and full diplomatic normalization if it allows the referendums to take place peacefully and resolves issues over the separate Darfur conflict.

U.N. peacekeeping chief, meanwhile, warned that increasing the U.N. force along southern Sudan’s border with the government-controlled north ahead of a crucial independence referendum would not prevent or contain a renewed north-south war.

Alain Le Roy said the U.N. is consulting the parties on the ground on several options including beefing up the force, known as UNMIS, in high-risk areas along the disputed border or redeploying existing troops to the border region.

UN troops

Le Roy said an “increase in number of troops would not enable UNMIS either to prevent or contain a clash between the two armies,” and redeploying U.N. troops would “weaken” the force because the U.N. is helping Sudan prepare and provide security for its scheduled Jan. 9 referendum on whether Africa’s largest country will split in two.

But Le Roy said the U.N.’s “best possible tool against a return to war” is to continue promoting agreement between the two sides on key issues that include borders, voting rights and control of oil-rich Abyei which straddles the north-south border and is supposed to hold a separate referendum on Jan. 9.

Tension rose along the border this month after the armies of the south and north accused each other of strengthening their positions, he said.

While UNMIS has been unable to fully verify the situation because of lack of cooperation and limited air and land mobility, Le Roy said “it seems that there’s been no major military mobilization” despite heightened preparations and strengthening of defensive positions.

Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Dafa Alla also warned that increasing the U.N. force will not help the parties achieve a settlement.

Instead, he advised the Security Council to “place its weight and wisdom in urging the parties (to reach a) satisfactory solution” at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in late October.

Alla said Khartoum is committed to finding a solution and to holding the independence referendum in a “credible, impartial and transparent” manner.

Alla warned that conducting a referendum in Abyei without settling voting rights for competing tribes, as well as the border, where oil fields are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, “will mean only returning to war.”