Khartoum says human rights council's decision success for Sudanese diplomacy

The Sudanese government on Saturday regarded the decision of the UN Human Rights Council to keep Sudan under Chapter 10 and extend mandate of the independent expert as a success for the Sudanese diplomacy.

"The Sudanese diplomacy has succeeded in the face of draft resolutions adopted by many countries that were forced to withdraw those resolutions due to Sudan's moves backed by the Arab and African groups, the Islamic countries and the non-alliance countries," Gharib Allah Khidir, Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement.

"Chapter 10 is the lightest within the umbrella of the special procedures, and therefore, we can consider the issued decision as a basic step to come out of the circle of those procedures," he added.

On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva unanimously adopted a resolution submitted by the African Group keeping Khartoum under Chapter 10 related to provision of technical assistance and capacity building together extending the mandate of the independent expert on the situation of Human Rights in Sudan for an extra year.

The council's decision demanded Sudan to make legal reforms that enable it to fulfill its constitutional and international commitments in field of human rights.

The council further demanded Sudan to endorse and implement the human trafficking control and corruption control acts and revise the press and publication and the national security acts.

The council's decision also encouraged the national dialogue process and welcomed Sudan government's declaration on cessation of hostilities at the two areas, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and ending the operations in Darfur last June.

According to the decision, the mandate of the independent expert on the situation of Human Rights in Sudan Aristide Nononsi has been extended for one year. Endit