Iranian President Ahmadinejad makes first visit to Sudan
Maiden visit: Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir (L) greets his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Khartoum yesterday. Ahmadinejad made his first visit to Khartoum for talks with his Sudanese opposite number Beshir, two leaders who have been increasingly defiant in the face of Western pressure.Picture: AFP
Thursday, March 1, 2007
IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his first visit to Khartoum yesterday for talks with his Sudanese opposite number Omar al-Beshir, two leaders who have been increasingly defiant in the face of Western pressure.
Ahmadinejad said the trip was aimed at further bolstering ties between the oil-rich Islamic states — both considered state sponsors of terrorism by Washington — after Beshir visited Tehran in April 2006.
"Relations are at a very good level... We have many economic and cultural projects, in agriculture, energy and oil exploration in Sudan and culture. Good work has been prepared and agreements will be signed," he said before leaving Tehran.
Ahmadinejad is expected to hold talks with Beshir and First Vice President Salva Kiir, Vice President Ali Osman Taha, as well as other senior regime officials during the two-day visit.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hope that Iran would be able to use "tractor diplomacy" in Africa after its success in forging strong relations in Latin America by exporting Iranian tractors there.
"We will transport to Africa the successful Latin American tractor diplomacy that allowed us to distribute Iranians tractors. Africa could be the second place for this diplomacy."
Iran's ambassador to Khartoum, Reza Amiri, said he hoped business partnerships could help increase the volume of two-way trade to US$70 million a year from US$43 million now.
Iran has also offered its expertise in the field of oil exploitation, an area currently dominated by China, India and Malaysia.
However, an issue that has also been at the heart of Iranian-Sudanese ties recently is military cooperation and Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein has visited Iran three times in the past year.
The latest trip was in January, when he met Ahmadinejad, who expressed his full support for Khartoum's rejection of the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
Hussein, a former interior minister and presidential adviser, is considered a key suspect by right groups in the atrocities in the Darfur conflict over the past four years.
The visit comes a day after the International Criminal Court accused a member of the Sudanese government and a militia leader of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, including murder, torture and mass rape.
Khartoum, which has consistently rejected international efforts to send UN peacekeepers to Darfur, argues the ICC has no jurisdiction to handle the case.
Iran — together with China, whose President Hu Jintao visited Khartoum earlier this month — is a key ally of Beshir's regime and spoken out against a United Nations deployment in Darfur.
"Sudan and Iran feel targeted and must respond by making diplomatic efforts to better explain their positions in regional and international forums," Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Othman Ismail said this week.
Rights groups and Darfur rebels have urged the ICC to target more senior Sudanese officials, including the defence minister and Beshir himself.
According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million displaced since rebels first rose up in Darfur in February 2003 to demand a better share of the country's resources.
A Sudanese minister accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court dismissed the allegations as false and politically motivated.
"I can defend myself and I am not worried at all," secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun told reporters late last Tuesday on his return from Jordan, where he had undergone medical tests.
"My conscience is at rest and I do not feel guilty because I acted within the legal framework and in accordance with the general interest," he added.
Haroun, a former interior minister in charge of Darfur, was one of two men accused by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes — including murder, torture and mass rape.
The other accused is Ali Kosheib, a militia leader, whom the government said was detained in November.
The accusations were the first by the ICC. AFP
Ahmadinejad said the trip was aimed at further bolstering ties between the oil-rich Islamic states — both considered state sponsors of terrorism by Washington — after Beshir visited Tehran in April 2006.
"Relations are at a very good level... We have many economic and cultural projects, in agriculture, energy and oil exploration in Sudan and culture. Good work has been prepared and agreements will be signed," he said before leaving Tehran.
Ahmadinejad is expected to hold talks with Beshir and First Vice President Salva Kiir, Vice President Ali Osman Taha, as well as other senior regime officials during the two-day visit.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hope that Iran would be able to use "tractor diplomacy" in Africa after its success in forging strong relations in Latin America by exporting Iranian tractors there.
"We will transport to Africa the successful Latin American tractor diplomacy that allowed us to distribute Iranians tractors. Africa could be the second place for this diplomacy."
Iran's ambassador to Khartoum, Reza Amiri, said he hoped business partnerships could help increase the volume of two-way trade to US$70 million a year from US$43 million now.
Iran has also offered its expertise in the field of oil exploitation, an area currently dominated by China, India and Malaysia.
However, an issue that has also been at the heart of Iranian-Sudanese ties recently is military cooperation and Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein has visited Iran three times in the past year.
The latest trip was in January, when he met Ahmadinejad, who expressed his full support for Khartoum's rejection of the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
Hussein, a former interior minister and presidential adviser, is considered a key suspect by right groups in the atrocities in the Darfur conflict over the past four years.
The visit comes a day after the International Criminal Court accused a member of the Sudanese government and a militia leader of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, including murder, torture and mass rape.
Khartoum, which has consistently rejected international efforts to send UN peacekeepers to Darfur, argues the ICC has no jurisdiction to handle the case.
Iran — together with China, whose President Hu Jintao visited Khartoum earlier this month — is a key ally of Beshir's regime and spoken out against a United Nations deployment in Darfur.
"Sudan and Iran feel targeted and must respond by making diplomatic efforts to better explain their positions in regional and international forums," Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Othman Ismail said this week.
Rights groups and Darfur rebels have urged the ICC to target more senior Sudanese officials, including the defence minister and Beshir himself.
According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million displaced since rebels first rose up in Darfur in February 2003 to demand a better share of the country's resources.
A Sudanese minister accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court dismissed the allegations as false and politically motivated.
"I can defend myself and I am not worried at all," secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun told reporters late last Tuesday on his return from Jordan, where he had undergone medical tests.
"My conscience is at rest and I do not feel guilty because I acted within the legal framework and in accordance with the general interest," he added.
Haroun, a former interior minister in charge of Darfur, was one of two men accused by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes — including murder, torture and mass rape.
The other accused is Ali Kosheib, a militia leader, whom the government said was detained in November.
The accusations were the first by the ICC. AFP
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