Sudan summons UN envoy to protest his conduct

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoned UN envoy in Sudan Jan Pronk on Monday to protest against his recent statements and report regarding the country.

Sudanese Acting Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told Pronk that his attitude was totally rejected by Sudan as it "infringed Sudan's sovereignty and tarnished the image of the country," the ministry said in a statement.

"If the UN and its mission want to help Sudan, the country is not against positive cooperation," Karti said. "But if the goal is to serve other agenda, Sudan has the right to reject the conducts. "

A crisis erupted in relations between Pronk and the Sudanese government last December when the UN envoy claimed that Sudan had not been ready to host the African Union summit, which was held in Khartoum on Jan. 23-24.

To make things even worse, Pronk criticized earlier this month the process of implementing the peace agreement, signed last year between the Sudanese government and the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement, asserting that the process was slower than expected.

In a recent report to the UN Security Council, Pronk underlined the necessity to replace the financially-strapped and ill-equipped 7,000-strong AU troops in Sudan's western region of Darfur with UN peacekeeping force to bolster security in the area.

However, Pronk argued that his report was based on AU's support in principle for the UN takeover of peacekeeping operations in Darfur, which was opposed by the Sudanese government.

The Darfur conflict erupted in early 2003 when two rebel groups took up arms in the arid area, accusing the government of neglect.

Source: Xinhua