Sudan’s defence minister hit out at British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday for proposing tough measures against Khartoum and linking the conflict in Darfur to the spread of extremism in Africa.
On Thursday, Blair called on the international community to take a ”far tougher line” against Sudan, and reiterated his belief in what he called the ”worldwide link” between ”global terrorism”.
”The allegation by Tony Blair about terrorism in Darfur is a sheer lie,” Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein told the Sudanese daily, al-Sahafa.
He said Blair’s comments were part of the Western pressure on Sudan to accept the deployment of United Nations troops in Darfur.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has repeatedly rejected international intervention in the troubled western region and accused the West of seeking to invade his country and plunder its resources.
”They have previously made a lie about Iraq by alleging that there were weapons of mass destruction, which they did not find, and now they want to repeat a similar lie about Darfur, but the government will not allow that,” Hussein said.
He argued there were no terrorists in Darfur because ”any foreigner will be easily recognised because the people of the region know each other”.
He reiterated Khartoum’s rejection of UN troops in Darfur, saying his government would not allow Darfur to become ”another Iraq”.
The conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum, drawing a scorched-earth response from the military and allied militias.
At least 200 000 people have since died and more than two million more fled their homes, according to the UN officials. — AFP
