by Nurat Uthman
The Sudanese foreign ministry, which has remained largely loyal to the regular army in its year-old conflict with paramilitaries, on Friday slammed its exclusion from an aid conference in Paris next week.
Neither of the warring parties has been invited to Monday’s donors’ meeting in Paris, which comes a year to the day since the conflict broke out and seeks to tackle a shortfall of more than $2.5 billion in emergency funding for Sudan and its neighbors.
The ministry “expressed its deep astonishment and outrage that this conference on the affairs of Sudan, an independent sovereign state … could take place without consultation or coordination with its government.”
It hit out at the French government for hosting the talks, saying its “behavior represents a gross disregard for … the principle of state sovereignty.”
France has invited government officials from Sudan’s neighbors, Sudanese civilian leaders and international aid groups, but neither of the warring parties.
The ministry condemned conference organizers for excluding both sides, accusing them of “equating the legitimate government and the national army on the one hand with a multinational terrorist militia.”
What is left of Sudan’s foreign ministry has moved offices to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces largely overran the capital Khartoum and its sister cities in the early stages of the war.
Mediation efforts by the United States and tis regional ally Saudi Arabia have been stalled for months although the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, expressed hope Thursday that the Paris aid conference could help kickstart resumed talks.
Perriello said that Saudi Arabia had committed to hosting a new round of talks and that the United States hoped to announce the date soon.
In a year, the war has killed many thousands, including up to 15,000 in one West Darfur town, according to U.N. experts.
It has also pushed the country of 48 million people to the brink of famine, devastated already fragile infrastructure and driven more than 8.5 million people from their homes.
