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Khartoum Welcomes Statement By Clinton On US Support For Sudan
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Jan 12, 2011 - 5:23:52 AM

Khartoum Welcomes Statement By Clinton On US Support For Sudan

KHARTOUM, Jan 12 (BERNAMA-NNN-SUNA) -- The Sudanese Foreign Ministry has welcomed the positive indication in remarks by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on the government's implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the holding of on going referendum for South sudan and the importance of extending support to Sudan in the period ahead.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Khalid Musa said in a press statement here Tuesday that the government remained hearing for a long time about promises from the US to support Sudan, especially during the peace negotiations in Naivasha, Kenya, and Abuja, Nigeria, but the US Administration did not fulfill these pledges till now.

He said that the US should adopt practical steps and prompt measures instead of giving words and unfulfilled pledges to remove Sudan from the list of countries considered by Washington to be sponsoring terrorism.

The US should then lift the sanctions being imposed on Sudan as well as remove the political obstacles that the US Administration had imposed to impede the writing off of Sudan's foreign debts.

The Foreign Ministry on Monday had categorically refuted a statement by former United States president Jimmy Carter that President Omer Al-bashir had told him that Sudan's entire indebtedness would be borne by northern Sudan.

Khalid Musa said President Al-Bashir had only told Carter during their meeting here of Sudan's strong call to the international community to take the initiative in writing off Sudan's debts as part of the Debt Relief for Developing Countries and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

This is in view of the fact that the country, both North and South, did have not enough resources to pay off these debts, taking into consideration the expected exhaustion and decrease of the oil revenues accruing to the North, besides the alert by the South to confront its new challenges in the event that southerners opted for separation in the ongoing referendum for them to decide their future in Sudan.

The spokesman added that President Al-Bashir, during his meeting with Carter,had said that paying off the debts was a joint responsibility of the North and the South under joint negotiations of the two partners.

-- BERNAMA-NNN-SUNA