News Article by AFP posted on August 22, 2000 at 17:48:35: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan tells UN it is committed to relief flights
KHARTOUM, Aug 22 (AFP) - Sudan is committed to the delivery of
relief
supplies to civilians in its war-ravaged south provided the
shipments do not
include military assistance for rebels, the
country's second highest official
told a UN envoy Tuesday.
First Vice President Ali Osman Taha said he told envoy Tom Eric
Vraalsen
that Khartoum supported humanitarian relief efforts through
the UN-sponsored
Operation Lifeline-Sudan (OLS), but that all sides
"should likewise commit
themselves to the provisions of the
agreement."
"There should be a transparency in OLS operations, which should
not be
used as a cover-up for supplying the rebels with military
assistance," Taha
said.
The vice president said he also told Vraalsen that the United
Nations
should denounce the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army for
"repeated
violations of the ceasefire and for obstruction of the
relief operations."
Taha said Vraalsen had commended the Sudanese government's
"continued
cooperation" with the United Nations and nongovernmental
organisations
operating under OLS and had promised to convey
Khartoum's views to UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Khartoum's views to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Sudan has repeatedly complained that relief flights coming from
abroad
under the 1989 OLS agreement are being used to provide the
SPLA with arms.
Vraalsen is due to leave Wednesday for Nairobi for talks with
SPLA
officials.