Khartoum calls for condemnation of SPLM/A

The government of Sudan has written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan requesting that the international community, and the United Nations in particular, condemn “the ongoing aggression by the rebel movement (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army) against the Sudanese people in general, and the people in the south in particular.” In a letter from Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Isma’il, it also called on the UN “to exert pressure on the rebel movement to accept an immediate ceasefire in southern Sudan.” Khartoum accused the rebel movement of having exacerbated the war in Sudan by launching “intensive military operations in Bahr al-Ghazal state”, displacing thousands of civilians and creating a humanitarian crisis in the state and its immediate environs. The SPLM/A had also made it clear that it would continue its military operations in an effort “to engulf the states of Kordofan and Darfur in western Sudan,” the letter stated. Khartoum has repeatedly called for a comprehensive ceasefire in the war-affected areas of the south, arguing that it would alleviate the suffering of the civilian population and provide a conducive atmosphere for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The rebel movement has said that a comprehensive ceasefire can only be agreed in the context of an overall political settlement, and has also - more recently - stated that the fighting would not stop until there was “a cessation of the exploration, development and export of oil”.