Sudan’s Bashir accuses African mediation of manipulating disputed area map

June 16, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — President Omer Al-Bashir rapped the secretariat of the African Union mediation saying its members added a new zone to the map of disputed areas without Sudan’s acceptance or informing their chairman of this addition.

Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir (SUNA)

Bashir reaffirmed on Saturday Sudan’s rejection to negotiate the operationalization of a buffer zone on the common border with the South Sudan unless it is based on the map agreed by the two parties when the independence of the new state was declared.

Speaking before a meeting of the National Shura (consultation) Council of the ruling National Congress Party, Bashir said Sudan objected the map prepared by the mediation in a meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) held in November 2011, because it identifies an areas called (14 miles) located south Bahr Al-Arab or Kiir River as a disputed area.

The president further underscored that despite this objection some African Union officials falsified the position and said that the government of Sudan has accepted this map.

“There are some conspirators at the Secretariat who hided this letter of Sudan’s objection from the chairman of the (African Union High Level) Panel, President (Thabo) Mbeki,” he stressed.

He added that Sudan contested this map in a letter to the UN Security Council underlining that the two parties previously agreed on four disputed areas and this fifth area was added by the African mediation without its consent .

“No talk and no negotiation on the security arrangements unless an agreement is reached on the line that separates the two countries in accordance with the borders of 1 January, 1956,” he added.

Bashir announced this position after a statement by the mediation saying South Sudan has accepted the map it proposed to the two parties.

Also it comes after an announcement by the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit saying his country’s would seek international arbitration on the border disputed areas.

In a statement released this week, Jean Ping chairman of the African Union commission urged the two parties to enforce the peace and security roadmap reminding they are bound by the decisions of the PSC and by the UN Security Council acting under Chapter VII.

He also pointed out that the ” temporary security line” does not aim to define final status of the boundary between the two countries but to cease hostilities between the two countries.

Bashir emphasized that Sudan’s delegation will keep negotiating patiently until it gets all the rights of the country.

He also strongly denied any intention to make new concessions after those already made “for the sake of peace and unity” and which resulted in “treachery and treason,” he said.

Bashir criticized the position of the international community saying it did not appreciate the efforts exerted by the Sudan for peace.

He further renewed Sudan’s commitment to UN Security Council resolution (2046), “even though it equates between the aggressor and the victim” and to settle the security arrangements before anything.

He pointed out that without resolving this issue there will be no peace, no oil transportation, no border monitoring, or four freedoms agreement.

On Thursday following a regular briefing to the UN Security Council on the situation between the two countries, South Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations Francis Nazario told reporters that his country proposed to include all the contested areas in the buffer zone for greater security.

“Demilitarizing all disputed areas would enable the parties to begin final demarcation of the 2, 000-kilometer-long border in an atmosphere of greater security,” he said.

South Sudan presented a map that adding six new sites to the existing four areas including, Heglig or Panthou, Magenes-Jida, Kafia Kingi, Hafra Nahas, Kaka Tijariya, and Monroe Strip .

(ST)

Article source: http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-s-Bashir-accuses-African,42939