Sudan pledges $300 mn for Darfur

KEBKABIYA – Sudan’s president has promised to pay $300 million in compensation to the country’s war-torn Darfur region, tripling a previous pledge, former US President Jimmy Carter said yesterday.

Carter spoke during a tour of Darfur marred by a heated exchange between the 83-year-old former president and Sudanese security, who tried to prevent him from visiting a tribal leader. Carter told Reuters President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan had made the compensation pledge during talks with him and other members of a visiting group of elder statesmen, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in Khartoum on Monday.”He promised us there would be $300 million in all coming to the Darfur region in compensation, $100 million coming from the government, and $200 million to be a loan from the Chinese,” Carter said as he set off on a tour of the northern Darfur town of Kebkabiya with the elders party.Sudan promised to pay $30 million in compensation to Darfur under the terms of a 2006 peace agreement signed with only one rebel group.Other rebel groups that refused to sign angrily rejected the offer as too low and remained unhappy when it was later raised to $100 million.Soon after making the statement, Carter publicly clashed with a Sudanese security chief who had objected to the visit to a Darfur tribal chief.”No you can’t go.It’s not on the programme,” Kebkabiya security chief Omar Sheikh told Carter in a raised voice.Carter angrily replied: “I don’t think you have the authority to do so.We are going to go anyway.I’ll tell President (Omar Hassan al-) Bashir.”The tribal leader Al-Tayyib al-Bukoura, regional head of the local Fur people, eventually arrived but, refusing to speak in front of Sudanese security, drove off with Carter.Displaced people from the town crowded around the international visitors, including British tycoon Richard Branson, and slipped notes into their pockets detailing attacks and rapes.One note said the government had ordered displaced Darfuris not to talk to visiting delegations and added, “If representatives talked about the suffering of their people they would be arrested and tortured by government agencies.”Graca Machel, rights campaigner and wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, was visibly annoyed by security officers crowding around her as she listened to reports of rape from women’s groups.She ordered the men to leave.Nampa-ReutersCarter told Reuters President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan had made the compensation pledge during talks with him and other members of a visiting group of elder statesmen, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in Khartoum on Monday.”He promised us there would be $300 million in all coming to the Darfur region in compensation, $100 million coming from the government, and $200 million to be a loan from the Chinese,” Carter said as he set off on a tour of the northern Darfur town of Kebkabiya with the elders party.Sudan promised to pay $30 million in compensation to Darfur under the terms of a 2006 peace agreement signed with only one rebel group.Other rebel groups that refused to sign angrily rejected the offer as too low and remained unhappy when it was later raised to $100 million.Soon after making the statement, Carter publicly clashed with a Sudanese security chief who had objected to the visit to a Darfur tribal chief.”No you can’t go.It’s not on the programme,” Kebkabiya security chief Omar Sheikh told Carter in a raised voice.Carter angrily replied: “I don’t think you have the authority to do so.We are going to go anyway.I’ll tell President (Omar Hassan al-) Bashir.”The tribal leader Al-Tayyib al-Bukoura, regional head of the local Fur people, eventually arrived but, refusing to speak in front of Sudanese security, drove off with Carter.Displaced people from the town crowded around the international visitors, including British tycoon Richard Branson, and slipped notes into their pockets detailing attacks and rapes.One note said the government had ordered displaced Darfuris not to talk to visiting delegations and added, “If representatives talked about the suffering of their people they would be arrested and tortured by government agencies.”Graca Machel, rights campaigner and wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, was visibly annoyed by security officers crowding around her as she listened to reports of rape from women’s groups.She ordered the men to leave.Nampa-Reuters