Browse content similar to Abdullahi Alazreg -Sudan's Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Now on BBC News it's time for It geology and religion. Saddam is | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
afflicted by conflict. Once the largest and most diverse states in | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
Africa, it split into two last year after a civil war killing millions | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
and displaced many. Tension continues out southern Sudan with | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
its new southern neighbour on the border region. My guest is the | :00:37. | :00:46. | |
ambassador to the United Kingdom Abdullahi Alazreg. Is this regime | :00:46. | :00:56. | |
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Ambassador, welcome. It has been one year since South Sudan became | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
independent. Since then, the two sides almost came to war again in | :01:18. | :01:26. | |
April. You were forced to vinegars using table by the UN. Talks broke | :01:26. | :01:33. | |
down again with no resolution. Are you serious about peace? A course. | :01:33. | :01:42. | |
More than serious. We have made peace them and signed the agreement | :01:42. | :01:52. | |
to stop this war. We want peace and that's necessary for us for the | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
development and all the progress. It's really important. You say | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
you're serious but both sides say that. The mediator for the African | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
Union says that both sides but trapped in that logic of war. For | :02:10. | :02:17. | |
example, you can't agree on where they did militarised zone should be. | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
When you say both sides you come here different things. You compare | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
the well-established government with an entity that is in the | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
process of the making. South Sudan is not a real country. It's not a | :02:33. | :02:43. | |
:02:43. | :02:48. | ||
real state. It's a state, a metaphorical state. In southern | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
Sudan they are trying to monopolise power. There's a lack of | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
bureaucracy and the lack of government administration. It skews | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
me, you say it's not a proper country. But you agree that South | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
Sudan should hold a referendum on independence and you agreed that it | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
should separate if the majority said they wanted that. White to | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
that? Don't you trust these people who came to power? You should have | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
agreed on the border. We would like peace. That's why we accepted the | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
referendum to make it easier. If not for our efforts the referendum | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
would, had taken place. Out in you agree to the referendum if you | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
cannot agree on the border? It's not our mistake. Its mistake of the | :03:38. | :03:45. | |
people controlling the south. They did not come to that meeting. They | :03:45. | :03:55. | |
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were not responsible people. This is not what I am saying. We were | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
unhappy about their behaviour. They do not come to the meetings. The | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
people made their sitting with us every now and again are not serious. | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
His it is a lot of mud-slinging on both sides. Now the south has | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
separated and we Omega Sea At Again and South Sudan points the finger | :04:16. | :04:26. | |
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at Saddam. -- sedan. It says you are playing games. The African | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
Union and the UN had given you three months but you not serious. | :04:32. | :04:41. | |
We are serious. South Sudan would not be independent without stars. | :04:41. | :04:47. | |
War is not to benefit anybody. do you explain to South Sudan to | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
comments about your presidents same they don't understand anything | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
except the language of the gun. But those nations have restarted but | :04:58. | :05:08. | |
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they accuse you of bombing the area. When he said that it was a reaction | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
about the occupation. This is a reaction about what happened like a | :05:13. | :05:23. | |
:05:23. | :05:25. | ||
stab in the back. It's a reaction to so many bad things. He tried to | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
make peace. Excuse me, what kind of peace is this if you continue to | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
bomb them? The bombardment is not taking place. It took place during | :05:38. | :05:45. | |
the war. And our be you explain on Friday, this Friday, a few days ago, | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
the Governor said on TV that the Sudanese army had been targeting | :05:50. | :06:00. | |
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his region by ear and by ground just a few days ago. He is line. -- | :06:06. | :06:16. | |
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it is alive. He needs to name names. It's not true. They are trying to | :06:17. | :06:24. | |
project themselves as innocent lambs surrounded by Sudanese Walkes. | :06:24. | :06:32. | |
Are you use saying that Sudan has not attacked from the ground or it | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
to South Sudan since the separation? We have attacked during | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
the occupation of our land and bombarded their military camps, yes. | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
How about t How about this is totally incorrect. We never did | :06:49. | :06:59. | |
:06:59. | :06:59. | ||
that. It's just propaganda. South Sudan says you're bombarding and | :06:59. | :07:07. | |
attacking. It a threatens to retaliate. They are continuing to | :07:07. | :07:17. | |
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defend their territory. Do you see the prospect of all out war once | :07:18. | :07:28. | |
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again? We do not have any desire to occupy any part or any centimetre | :07:29. | :07:38. | |
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of the south. This is part of the propaganda. We would like peace | :07:39. | :07:49. | |
with them. It is in our interest. 80% of their food comes from us. | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
It's not good or not right to fight somebody who buys 80% of food from | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
us. You say you were interested in peace and not taking territory. Are | :08:02. | :08:10. | |
you trying to make them a failed state? Are you trying to make | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
trouble in the new country? How about the revenue from the oil, a | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
huge area of dispute. Something the African Union and the United | :08:19. | :08:27. | |
Nations says you have three months to resolve this dispute. When South | :08:27. | :08:34. | |
Sudan was created, you lost 70% of its oil revenue. However you both | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
need each other for exporting the oil. You cannot agree on how much | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
you will charge to allow the world to come through your territory. You | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
are asking $30 each barrel. That's more than anywhere else in the | :08:52. | :08:59. | |
world. Nobody is getting anything because they cannot produce oil and | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
you are losing on all sides. Why are you creating trouble? We did | :09:04. | :09:12. | |
not create these problems. They were irresponsible people. They are | :09:12. | :09:21. | |
creating these problems. Name anyone else? This is business. What | :09:21. | :09:29. | |
you are suggesting is not that oil pipeline. It's processing units for | :09:29. | :09:38. | |
petroleum and refineries. There is a high-cost items. But that is way | :09:38. | :09:46. | |
above anyone else. It's a matter for me the association. They should | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
suggest a reasonable price and we would allow them to use our | :09:49. | :09:57. | |
facilities providing a stop arming the terrorists and groups who are | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
attacking our people and killing innocent people. You're talking | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
about the militia there. Some people accuse people of arming the | :10:09. | :10:19. | |
:10:19. | :10:20. | ||
militia. Both sides, North and South both deny this. It you cannot | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
resolve the differences over this territory and the border and the 12 | :10:25. | :10:32. | |
by August, the UN friends economic sanctions. You cannot afford that. | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
You've just lost said the 5% of oil revenue. You cannot afford these | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
sanctions. We are resilient and resourceful. Losing Petroleum | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
Revenue does not mean the collapse. She surely you need to talk | :10:50. | :11:00. | |
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constructively. Or we want is peace. Their government in the south has | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
closed the oil fields and that is not constructive. They are closing | :11:08. | :11:17. | |
their oil wells. Bet concentrate on your economic woes. You rely on oil | :11:17. | :11:27. | |
:11:27. | :11:28. | ||
revenue. That not true. International Monetary Fund urges | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
Saddam last week to launch an emergency program to overcome your | :11:34. | :11:44. | |
:11:44. | :11:47. | ||
economic challenges. It is not 80% sign of our revenue. Oil is only | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
20%. We are implementing austerity measures to allow us to overcome | :11:53. | :12:03. | |
the problems. What what do the people say? The price would | :12:03. | :12:13. | |
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increase over 23% next year and 26 % later and you prefer his tax | :12:13. | :12:23. | |
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hikes. Don't you risk losing public support? The people are very | :12:26. | :12:34. | |
understanding. Most of them are politicians. They understand the | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
hardship by the loss of the poor oil revenue. They do not like what | :12:39. | :12:45. | |
it is doing to the lack of money in their pocket. The newspaper is run | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
by a relative of the President and he said the Government is playing | :12:50. | :13:00. | |
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with fire. That does not necessarily mean it the reality. | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
You have had very forceful uprisings. He is is not true. It's | :13:15. | :13:23. | |
part of the propaganda from the south. We did not kill anybody. We | :13:23. | :13:30. | |
do not kill the people. If it kills people we will lose power. Let's | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
look about killing the people inside Sudan with conflict inside | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
and outside at near the border regions and on the Nile river. The | :13:40. | :13:48. | |
peace deal has left grievances of the people near the border | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
unaddressed. They fought with the south in at the civil war and they | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
are being punished now because they are being bombed, not just the | :13:58. | :14:08. | |
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Your reason for the war is because the leader did not accept the | :14:15. | :14:23. | |
result of the election, which was free and fair. This is not why am | :14:23. | :14:31. | |
saying. This is what Khartoum is saying. This is a fair and honest | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
election. He did not accept the result. He resorted to fighting. | :14:37. | :14:46. | |
That is the reason behind the war. Are you saying that you are not | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
bombing these regions? Which are not bombing our own people. | :14:52. | :14:58. | |
According to human rights organisations, you are. A group | :14:58. | :15:08. | |
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said there was ethnic cleansing of some people. A man is wanted by the | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
International Criminal Court in. Four. He was filmed earlier this | :15:12. | :15:22. | |
:15:22. | :15:24. | ||
year, saying, do not bring them back alive, we havefor them. | :15:24. | :15:34. | |
:15:34. | :15:35. | ||
Firstly, this ethnic cleansing allegation is not true. This is an | :15:35. | :15:45. | |
:15:45. | :15:46. | ||
old allegation against Sudan. Let me give you a list -- I am sorry. | :15:46. | :15:55. | |
We do not have enough time for that. You are denying it? Yes. Because it | :15:55. | :16:01. | |
is not true. A UN co-ordinator has expressed deep concerns about | :16:01. | :16:11. | |
:16:11. | :16:13. | ||
Sudan's actions. He also emphasised food shortages in Blue Nile. They | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
are people fleeing over the border to eloquent refugee camps in South | :16:17. | :16:27. | |
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Sudan. A refugee camp was bombed. You are being accused by not just | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
South Sudanese but international human rights organisations and the | :16:34. | :16:42. | |
UN of treating people the Blue Nile state in an abominable fashion. | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
Firstly, an important person said this is not true. I can produce | :16:46. | :16:55. | |
:16:56. | :17:07. | ||
their names. A former UN Secretary for political Affairs said that. | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
Another UN figure agrees. It is not true. We are talking about bombings | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
and attacks. We are talking about blocking humanitarian aid agencies | :17:16. | :17:26. | |
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from getting to these regions, from. Four and the Blue Nile region. -- | :17:29. | :17:39. | |
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Susan Rice is not a credible personality. We are allowing our | :17:42. | :17:49. | |
own to distribute food. Why are you hiring international organisations | :17:49. | :17:59. | |
:17:59. | :18:15. | ||
to these areas? Some of them are... A couple of years ago, people were | :18:15. | :18:23. | |
shipping arms to the rebel movement. We really have to move on. I would | :18:23. | :18:30. | |
like to move to the issue of the internal states that South Sudanese | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
inside Sudan. The South Sudanese are considered illegal foreign | :18:37. | :18:45. | |
residents. A UN figure said hundreds of thousands of | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
southerners are believed to be in Sudan but they did not have the | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
funding to move them. What is to happen with the South Sudanese in | :18:52. | :19:02. | |
Sudan? We have 30,000 students in South Sudan. They are studying and | :19:02. | :19:11. | |
we take care of them. We will not expel them as long as the embassy | :19:11. | :19:17. | |
is ready to issue the proper documents for them. They have been | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
in Sudan for years and been living like brothers and sisters. Nothing | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
has happened to them. The government of Sudan expelled only | :19:26. | :19:33. | |
in the last two months 8,700 families from the Saar. Before that, | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
the expelled 20,000. They confiscated properties and killed | :19:38. | :19:47. | |
them. It is an issue of finger- pointing from both sides. I would | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
like to talk about another issue about legitimacy but Omar al-Bashir. | :19:53. | :20:02. | |
He was indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur. A prosecutor is | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
asking the Security Council to consider urgent other countries to | :20:05. | :20:13. | |
help to arrest him and that even a should be cut off. He is a | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
beleaguered President. He is running out of legitimacy, don't | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
you think? He is an elected president. I will give him 68% of | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
:20:32. | :20:35. | ||
the awards. The ICC prosecutor is not a credible person. The American | :20:35. | :20:45. | |
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envoy to Sudan said there was no genocide in Sudan. Other people | :20:51. | :21:01. | |
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agree. The UN said it was one of the worst humanitarian crisis in | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
the world, in Darfur. But going back to the ICC, Malawi has taken | :21:08. | :21:15. | |
heed. It has asked the African Union but to ask Omar al-Bashir to | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
the summit. The summit is not going to be held in Malawi. It may expand | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
this. Malawi was made by the Americans -- Malawi was backed by | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
the Americans. If they allow the President to attend the Senate -- | :21:31. | :21:39. | |
the summit, they will deprive them of that money. It is insulting to | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
the President of Malawi. The African Union decided to move the | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
summit from Malawi to elsewhere because Malawi is at respecting | :21:47. | :21:57. | |
even the summit. Let us look at the opposition against MRI inside the | :21:57. | :22:07. | |
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People are not happy about... Has We had a rogue based government, | :22:28. | :22:35. | |
even the leader of the party is all of a sudden part of the government. | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
Some other party members a part of this government. They are asking | :22:41. | :22:48. | |
for a regime change. They have to go to the ballot box. But the | :22:48. | :22:58. | |
President came to power through a free and fair election. 68% of that | :22:58. | :23:02. |