USA/SUDAN: Sudan orders the top U.N. envoy, Jan Pronk, to leave the country while Rice says explusion of United Nations envoy in Sudan is "unfortunate in the extreme."

Record ID: 491354

  • Title: USA/SUDAN: Sudan orders the top U.N. envoy, Jan Pronk, to leave the country while Rice says explusion of United Nations envoy in Sudan is "unfortunate in the extreme."
  • Date: 24th October 2006
  • Summary: SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALI SADIQ WALKING INTO CONFERENCE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, ALI SADIQ, SAYING: "Mr. Jan Pronk said that the government of national unity is not implementing the Darfur Peace Agreement and that the government of Sudan is supporting the Janjaweed, a claim which has been denied so many times by the government of the Sudan." Al SAQIG IN A CHAIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, ALI SADIQ, SAYING: "We consider such statements are incompatible with the mission of the special representative of the Secretary-General." AL SADIQ SITTING IN CHAIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, ALI SADIQ, SAYING: "We appreciate the cooperation with the United Nations and we are willing to further advance this cooperation with another person who might be named by the secretary general who is ready to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Sudan."
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2006 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA23HQS2I1ESAM3XR4LUTRUA5P1
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  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Sudan's order to expel U.N. envoy Jan Pronk "unfortunate in the extreme," and said she intended to discuss it with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
    "The situation in Darfur has been deteriorating and the international community needs very much to be able to act there," Rice said at a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday (October 23).
    U.N. envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk prepared to leave Khartoum on Monday (October 23) after the African country's government raised the stakes in a running dispute with the world body by ordering Pronk to leave.
    Khartoum was already on a collision course with the international community over its rejection of a U.N. Security Council resolution to send 22,500 U.N. troops to its violent western Darfur region. It calls the plan a Western invasion aimed at recolonising Sudan.
    Sunday's order to expel the most powerful U.N. official in Sudan has Pronk packing his things to leave after more than two years at the head of a difficult mission in a war-torn country and observers saying the move exacerbates existing tensions.
    Pronk published comments on his Web site www.janpronk.nl saying the army had lost two major battles with rebels in North Darfur, morale was low, generals were being sacked and soldiers refusing to fight -- infuriating Sudan's powerful armed forces.
    Sudan's Foreign Ministry said it would continue to cooperate with Pronk's replacement and the United Nations. EU ambassador in Sudan Kent Dagerfeld said he regretted Khartoum's decision to expel Pronk and urged it to reconsider.
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