Sudanese FM refutes US stance on Darfur

SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) --The visiting Sudanese foreign minister, at a press conference here Monday, urged the international community not to be swayed by information manipulated by Washington about humanitarian crisis at Sudan's western area of Darfur.

Concluding his five-day visit in South Korea, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said that the United States is plotting to scapegoat Sudan as it did Iraq for its own political agenda before its presidential election in November.

Sudan has been increasingly at loggerheads with the United States over what Washington claims there existing genocide backed by the Sudanese government in the Darfur region.

International pressure has been escalating on Sudan to take more concrete actions to get grips with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, with the United States considering oil sanctions against the country.

"Look at what is going on in Iraq. The United States kept saying there were weapons of mass destruction. The same thing as genocide. After six months, it will say there is no genocide (in Sudan)," Ismail was quoted by South Korean Yonhap News Agency as saying.

Ismail said that Washington's stance on the Darfur issue is "irrational, unrealistic and unbalanced."

The Sudanese foreign minister also said George W. Bush's administration is using the Darfur issue to distract attention from what is taking place in Iraq to avoid pressure from the Democrats.

Ismail stressed that his country has the capacity and means to resolve its decades-long internal conflicts without US interference.

He said: "We are seeking solutions based on three categories: humanitarian, security and political," and "The final round of negotiations is under way, and Sudan will be in whole peace next year."

He noted that the ongoing problem in Darfur is not genocide, but is a "conflict between nomadic tribes and agricultural ones."

Sudan is not arming and backing Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, in the crisis in Darfur, he said.

Ismail arrived in South Korean on Sept. 9 and is to left here later Monday.

During his stay here, he met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.

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