Darfur rebel leader criticizes South African UN ambassador
April 23, 2008 (PARIS) — A key Darfur rebel leader living in exile in Paris said he was “astonished” at remarks made yesterday by the South African envoy at the UN Dumisani Kumalo
Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, leader of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) told Sudan Tribune that he is “well aware of the special relationship between the Sudanese government and South Africa”.
“Is Kumalo now acting as a propagandist for Khartoum as part of that relationship?”
The South African envoy and the current president of the UN Security Council (UNSC) responding to reporters’ questions at the UN headquarters on whether it was time to consider sanctions against those obstructing the peace in Darfur said that “the people who are obstructing the peace are those who are sitting in the nice capitals of Europe so what can we do”.
The South African envoy was likely referring to Al-Nur who has refused to participate in peace talks before the deployment of peacekeepers and achieving security on the ground.
His demands have caused deep frustration among diplomats and the Sudanese government who called on France to expel him.
Kumalo appeared critical of France for not pressuring Al-Nur saying that “Europe is represented in the council”.
The SLM leader said that South African policies toward Sudan under presidency of Thabo Mbeki “backed the Khartoum regime at the expense of the Darfurian people”.
“As the president of UNSC, maybe Kumalo can give the world a reality check on the compliance of Khartoum with any of the council’s resolutions issued since 2004. Only then will he realize that the party obstructing peace in Darfur is the Sudanese government he is trying to defend” Al-Nur said.
The rebel chief counted the UNSC resolutions calling for disarmament of the notorious Janjaweed militias, the ban on military flights in Darfur, the extradition of war crimes suspects and the violation of ceasefires as examples of Khartoum’s challenging to the will of the international community.
“The vicious circle continues. Sudan is now impeding the deployment of the UNAMID force after it has promised to facilitate. It is almost a year and the force deployment is far from complete. In the meanwhile the Sudanese government continues to commit genocide against my people but the South African diplomat believes it is us obstructing the peace. Kumalo is in denial” he said.
The joint AU-U.N. special representative for Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, told the UNSC yesterday that the peacekeeping force was "very unlikely to achieve full operating capability before 2009," dashing U.N. hopes to have the full force in place by the end of this year.
Western diplomats say Khartoum deserves much of the blame for dragging its heels in approving troop contingents.
“Security for my people comes first before any peace negotiations with Khartoum. I will not back down from that. This is not South African apartheid; this is genocide and the people of Darfur are dying” Al-Nur told Sudan Tribune.
“We have learned from the great leader Nelson Mandela to stick to our cause even if it takes 27 years to achieve. It is regrettable that Mandela’s successors who were part of the African National Congress (ANC) freedom movement are now defending an oppressive regime killing innocent people” he added.
International experts also say more than 300,000 were killed and 2 million have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, a region that is roughly the size of France.
