January 29, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan will embark on a shuttle diplomacy in the upcoming period to contain the challenges of the imminent secession of south Sudan, the country’s ministry of foreign affairs announced on Saturday.

Sudan’s foreign minister Ali Karti (File – Reuters Photos)

In an interview with Sudan’s official news agency SUNA, the official spokesman of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khalid Musa, pointed out that the primary goal of the approach is to contain the “negative” effects of south Sudan secession on the country’s foreign policy.

The second goal, he added, is to reduce the amount of “foreign presence” in the country, represented in the UN Mission to Sudan (UNMIS) and the AU-UN Hybrid Peacekeeping Mission Darfur (UNAMID).

UNMIS, whose strength now stands at 11,000 staff, has been established to monitor the implementation of the 2005’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended nearly two decades of intermittent civil wars between north and south Sudan.

The eight year conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur prompted the establishment of UNAMID, the largest peacekeeping operation in the world with the strength of 20,000 soldiers, to help restore peace to the region where as many as 300,000 people died and 2.7 lost their homes since it erupted in 2003, according to UN figures.

The spokesman said that the new policy would focus on embellishing Sudan image which he said was being tarnished by lobby groups in the Western world, adding that the new diplomacy would aim to normalize relations with the West.

Musa said that Sudan would seek to expand its already improved relations with Asian countries like China, Malaysia, India and Pakistan. He also revealed that Sudan would sign a number of deals with Brazil.

Sudan’s relations with Europe had been “influenced by the negative policies” adopted by the US towards Sudan, the official spokesman claimed.

He noted the recent tours conducted by Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Karti who visited ten European countries, saying that his boss had conducted a “transparent and open dialogue” regarding Sudan’s issues, particulary the issues of economic cooperation and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Sudan has been in a bind over the ICC which charged three of its officials, including president Al-Bashir himself, with committing war crimes in Darfur region. Al-Bashir also faces the charge of genocide.

“We can’t claim to have created a breakthrough but a common ground of understanding has now begun to crystallize” the spokesman said of the dialogue with European countries.

On relations with the US, the spokesman commended the “great role” that the US played in creating peace in Sudan. However, he regretted that the US failed to fully honor its pledges towards the CPA and said it had unfairly sided with south Sudan at the expense of the north.

The US Administration of President Bush was a key player in brokering the CPA.

(ST)