EU welcomes cease-fire agreement in Sudan, Islamic group condemns

Islamic Republic News Agency
Brussels, Feb 2, 2002 (IRNA)

The European Union in a statement Friday welcomed the cease-fire agreement signed in the Nuba mountains on January 19 by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement through the joint mediation of Switzerland and the U.S.

The European Union "considers the cease-fire agreement as an important step towards achieving a comprehensive settlement of the Sudanese civil conflict."

The EU said it was following the situation in the Nuba mountains very closely, and stands ready to examine measures it can take to support positive efforts aimed at bringing the Sudanese civil conflict to an end.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb al-Tahrir), in a statement distributed in Brussels Saturday, condemned the Nuba agreement as a "flagrant U.S. interference" in Sudan.

It called on all Muslims in the world to "thwart this colonial plot," and said that "keeping silent is treachery towards God and His prophet."

The Hizb al-Tahrir is banned in nearly all Arab states because it calls for the establishment of a "khalifat" (caliphate) in the Muslim world.