Broadcast 18 March on Iranian state satellite TV (IRINN)

Announcer Mohammad Sajedi: Following the thoughtless remarks by British Prime Minister Tony Blair about sending peacekeeping forces to the Darfur region because of the existence of terrorists in this region, Sudan announced it would not permit entry into the Darfur region by any non-African forces.

The government of Sudan condemned Tony Blair's interventionist remarks about its internal affairs and announced that there are no terrorists on Sudanese soil. It said this nation's government will permit this region to become another Iraq due to the entry of international forces into Darfur.

Experts believe that the attack on Iraq was done based on claim of the existence of weapons of mass destruction there, while no sign of such weapo\ ns has been found in Iraq.

Abdelrahim Mohamedd Hussein, Sudan's minister of defense, said the planners of the attack on Iraq are seeking to repeat that scenario, but we will not permit this.

Interpreter translating comments by Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein: If the international community wants to establish peace in Darfur, it should act on the provisions of the Abuja agreement.

Sajedi: Some observers of African affairs believe that the Darfur crisis in the Sudan is entirely political and that the great powers such as America and England are trying to keep this crisis alive in some way by exacerbating the Darfur crisis, because they are opposed to the Sudanese government.

When the crisis is quelled in the Republic of Sudan by Colonel John Garang, the Darfur crisis will end immediately, but they are trying to weaken the Sudanese government by using the leverage of Darfur.

Interpreter translating remarks by African expert Ibrahim Lawla: America and England, because of their opposition to Omar al-Bashir, will not permit a diplomatic or political solution to the Darfur crisis.

Sajedi: Sudan sent a letter to the UN asking for a review of some of the agreements about stationing joint international forces in Darfur. These agreements were made in the time of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon rejected this saying it could not be implemented, but said the UN would try to continue its diplomatic efforts.

Interpreter translating remarks by Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon: The Darfur debate is solely about deploying this organization's peacekeeping forces, because diplomatic efforts have not been effective until now.

Sajedi: Sudan believes that the people who have been appointed to study the Darfur case by the International Human Rights Committee have held anti-Sudanese positions from the beginning and therefore their report is filled with political and uninformed objectives.

Despite this America and England are seeking to intensify the sanctions against the Sudan. London and Washington believe that the government of the Sudan should permit deployment of the blue-helmeted forces, a proposal that Khartoum has vigorously opposed.

Many observers believe that the Darfur crisis was born of hidden and open American and English intervention in Sudan's internal affairs. They are trying to use this weak point to increase the required pressure on the Khartoum government.

Therefore it appears that one must expect the Darfur crisis to persist as long as the Sudanese government maintains its anti-imperialist positions.

****************************************

The April 2007 issue of the Atlantic explores the roots of the Darfur crisis in an article by Stephan Faris (subscription).