SUDAN: Sudan's armed forces yesterday described the UN resolution on Darfur as "a declaration of war" and warned that any foreign intervention in the region would be fought "on land, sea and air".
The armed forces spokesman, Gen Muhammad Bashir Suleiman, raised tensions by speaking of a jihad against the "enemies of Sudan". "The Security Council resolution about the Darfur issue is a declaration of war on Sudan and its people," he told the official al-Anbaa newspaper.
"The door of the jihad is still open and if it has been closed in the south it will be opened in Darfur," he said, referring to a peace deal which has ended the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.
The UN resolution on Darfur, which was passed on Friday, gave the Sudanese government 30 days to disarm the predominantly Arab Janjaweed militias whose campaign of murder, rape and arson has driven more than a million people from their homes.
The Sudanese government is critical of the resolution and has said it prefers to stick to a deal it signed with the UN secretary general, Mr Kofi Annan, last month, which allows Sudan 90 days to disarm the Janjaweed.
Gen Suleiman claimed yesterday that the 30-day deadline in the UN resolution was "a preparatory period" for war against Sudan, which he said was "being targeted by foreign powers". He called on the Sudanese media to prepare the country for "an unconventional warfare". "We will not welcome the Americans with flowers or white flags," he added.
Sudan's foreign minister, Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail, recently claimed the pressure put on his country "closely resembles the increased pressure that was put on Iraq" in the run-up to war.
An estimated 1.2 million internal refugees are in Darfur and 120,000 have crossed into Chad. Some aid worker sources estimate that the UN's food distributions cover between a third and half of what is needed. - (Guardian service)