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Sadiq Al- Mahdi, the leader of the Ummah Party and former prime minister, has accused Washington of trying to foment civil war in the north of Sudan.
The London-based Arabic language newspaper, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, monitored by the BBC, reported on 4 January that Al-Mahdi accused President Bill Clinton’s administration of “planning to transfer 6,000 fighters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) from southern Sudan to the eastern borders”. This move is aimed at expanding the war to the north “where it will have more impact on the current government,” said the report.
Al-Mahdi accused the US administration of putting a lot of pressure on Ethiopia and Eritrea to support this plan. He added that he was not hostile to the US, but was “fiercely opposed” to its policy towards Sudan. According to Al-Mahdi the aim of the US policy was, to create a secular state, like Turkey, in the Sudan; gain control over Sudanese oil sites and to alienate Sudan from “its Arab environment” said the report. The US has consistently denied such reports.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions