A difference in al-Ummah party over the government, EU delegation looms of sanctions against Khartoum
The Dutch foreign minister Bernard Pot who visited Sudan yesterday on top of an EU delegation said that Khartoum has failed to ensuring enough security for civilians in Darfur but he said that the Sudanese government has adopted " an open and positive position" to reach a solution in the district.
The visit of the delegation came after the European union warned of imposing sanctions on the Sudanese government if it does not comply with the demands of the international community to solve the Darfur crisis. Pot, whose country assumes the current presidency of the EU, told journalists after his meeting with the Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his foreign minister Mustafa Othman Ismael that despite the fact that the EU has not specified a date to impose sanctions on Sudan, however, a sanction might be imposed on Sudan if the government will not put an end to the violence in the western part of the country. He indicated that the Europeans want to send more officers to the district and dismantle the Jangaweid from their weapons and putting on trial those who violate human rights in Darfur.
Ismael, for his part, rejected imposition of sanctions on his country and described these threats "of a colonialist position." Pot said that "what is important is that the Sudanese government embarked on a positive and open position" to reach a solution in Darfur.
Ismael told journalists earlier that Khartoum on Tuesday summoned the EU ambassador in Sudan Kent Degerflit to inform him it refused the threats of the European Union.
On the other hand, prominent officials and ministers in the Ummah party announced that there is a difference inside the party on the issue of continued alliance with the government following the decision taken by al-Bashir to remove last week his deputy to the presidency for the party, Mubarak al-Fadel al-Mahdi.
Party officials refused leaving the government at the request of al-Mahdi. The minister of international cooperation Youssef Takina said "it is not the best time to leave the government while we are proceeding towards peace in Sudan."