Sudan has strongly rejected an American call for the creation of safe haven to transport relief items to areas held by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in South Kordufan and in the Blue Nile region of north Sudan.

It said no such action would be tolerated without the full participation of Sudan’s relief commission and other national organizations for the delivery of the relief assistance.

A statement issued by the government Commissioner General, Suleiman Adul Rahaman, stressed that the commission had doubts about the information contained in the statement of the USA Representative at the United Nations, Susan Rice, on the humanitarian situation in areas under control of the rebel SPLA.

The commissioner questioned the figures quoted by the USA and also about the parties that carried out a survey in those areas.

The commissioner warned against a repeat of the life line operation that ultimately led to the separation of South Sudan, hinting that relief was used to root western power in the region.

They then used the pretext of provision of assistance to needy southerners only to help in the secession of the south from the rest of the country, he said.

The commissioner called on the US to focus on ending hostilities in those areas so that humanitarian assistance could reach the people it said were in bad need of relief assistance.

Report anecdotally attributed to the UN estimates that more than 500,000 people have now been displaced or severely affected by fighting in South Kordufan and Blue Nile where ethnic Nuba rebels, once allied to South Sudan’s leaders, are fighting the Sudanese army.

Pana 21/01/2012