Sudan says US, UK trying to hide Iraq ‘failure’

AL FASHER (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar Bashir has accused US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown of exaggerating Darfur's problems in order to hide their "failure" in Iraq.

"Bush and Brown exaggerate what's happening in Darfur to hide the exactions carried out in Iraq and their two countries' failure to contain the situation," Bashir said late Saturday during a rare visit to the war-torn western region.

During a speech in Darfur's main city of Al Fasher to representatives of the thousands displaced by fighting, Beshir challenged Bush and Brown, two of his strongest critics, to address large crowds of Iraqis in Baghdad as he did to Darfuris. "No American or British official dares announce a visit to Iraq until it's already over," he said, and also criticised unnamed humanitarian organisations working in Darfur. "Some of these organisations collect money in the name of Darfur without spending it on the displaced and use the crisis for mercantile purposes," he charged. "We will not accept the camps for the displaced being turned into museums exhibiting human distress to the eyes of the world," he said.

On Sunday, Bashir is due to chair an extraordinary Cabinet meeting in Al Fasher to discuss developing the region which is virtually devoid of infrastructure. On Saturday, he launched a call for peace as he kicked off his Darfur visit.

Speaking to a gathering in Nyala, capital of south Darfur state, Bashir called on rebels who did not sign a May 2006 peace deal to join the political process. "The citizens just want a comprehensive peace followed by development," Bashir said. "That is why I call on the armed rebels to join the political process so that together we can reconstruct Darfur." Khartoum has repeatedly accused the West of exaggerating the scale of the four-year conflict which has killed at least 200,000 people and forced two million from their homes, according to UN figures.

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