Four stories from today (updated to reflect a newer version of the the one from the AP):
(See also Monday's AFP preview story.)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Sudan for two days of meetings with his Sudanese counterpart and other officials. The talks are expected to cover the situation in Darfur, Iran's controversial nuclear program, and economic and cultural projects between the two countries. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.
Ministry of Information advisor Rabie Abdul Atti tells VOA that discussions on Darfur and Iran's nuclear program are expected to top the agenda Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit.
Atti says [that] Iran may also offer support to the cash-strapped African Union troops who are in Darfur to monitor a ceasefire between the government and a rebel group.
"What will be discussed between the two presidents will be, I think, the help that Iran provides to Sudan - financial help - to ensure security and to resolve this crisis in Darfur, and to assist and support [the] Sudan government in the humanitarian issues: the return of the displaced to their villages, and also to establish security in the area that is witnessing conflicts between the rebels and the government," he said.
Regarding Iran's nuclear program, Atti says [that] President Bashir will likely encourage his counterpart to pursue peaceful ends.
"I think [that] the stance of Sudan regarding nuclear projects is very clear: that nuclear projects should be used only for peaceful means, and not to be used for destructive weapons. I think that Sudan will boost Iran in this direction, and not in the direction of making nuclear projects for manufacturing destructive weapons," he said.
Both Iran and Sudan are being heavily criticized by the United Nations Security Council and others in the West: Iran for its uranium enrichment program; and Sudan for its failure to stop the bloodshed in Darfur, which is considered one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis and one [that] the United States has labeled genocide.
The U.N. Security Council is discussing expanding its sanctions on Iran for [its] nuclear program.
Sudan has resisted efforts to allow a United Nations peacekeeping force to enter Darfur, where the four-year-old conflict has killed some 200,000 people and displaced more than two million, arguing that such a move would undermine Sudan's sovereignty.
Sudan is also resisting efforts by the International Criminal Court to find and prosecute people suspected of committing war crimes in the volatile area. The court named two suspects [on] Tuesday, but the Sudanese government vowed not to hand them over.
The Iranian president is scheduled to be in Sudan for two days.
Ministry of Information advisor Atti says [that] the two countries are expected to review past agreements and discuss new projects in the areas of agriculture, electricity, gas, and others.
From the AP...
(The earlier version is also still available.)
Leaders of two nations faced with strong international pressure — Iran for its nuclear program and Sudan because of the conflict in Darfur — closed ranks on Wednesday, as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and visiting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran gushed in support of one another.
"Enemies try by force to prevent Sudan from emerging powerful in the region, as they do in Iran's case," Ahmadinejad declared after arriving in Khartoum.
The Persian nation's president said [that] Iran considers "progress, dignity and power of Sudan" as important as its own, and "extends ideological support" to the country, Iran's state IRNA news agency reported.
"There is no limit to the expansion of relations with Sudan," said Ahmadinejad, announcing a "new chapter" in oil, energy, industry and agriculture sectors between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Sudan's President al-Bashir said [that] Iran was within its "absolute right" to pursue a nuclear program — which is condemned by the U.N. Security Council and the United States, worried that Tehran is using it to mask efforts to create nuclear weapons.
"Attempts by some countries that possess lethal nuclear weapons to frustrate Iran's right in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes reflect double standards that dominate the international scene," al-Bashir said.
Those same countries "turn a blind eye on Israel's nuclear arsenal and are incapable of forcing it to relinquishing its arms so that the Middle East could be a nuclear-free zone," al-Bashir added. Israel, which is believed to possess nuclear weapons of its own but has never publicly acknowledged it, considers a nuclear armed Iran as the greatest threat to its existence.
Ahmadinejad's visit to Sudan comes a day after the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor accused a junior member of al-Bashir's Cabinet of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
During his two-day visit, Ahmadinejad will deliver a lecture at a private institution in Khartoum, and [will] witness the signing of several bilateral agreements, according to Sudan's Information Ministry.
Sudanese state SUNA news agency said [that] the visit would promote "cooperation in defense relations, the exchange of expertise and scientific and technological capabilities."
Iranian ambassador in Khartoum, Ridha Amiri, said [that] the trade volume between the two countries is expected to jump from US$43 million (€33 million) to some US$70 million (€53 million).
The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany are currently discussing strengthening the limited sanctions imposed on Iran in December for its refusal to stop enriching uranium. Enriched uranium is used to fuel nuclear reactors but uranium enriched to a higher degree is used to make atomic bombs.
The United States accuses Iran of secretly trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying [that] its enrichment is solely for self-sufficiency in fuel for nuclear power plants.
Also, the United Nations is pushing the Khartoum government to accept 22,000 U.N. and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, where 2.5 million people have become refugees and more than 200,000 have died in four years of fighting. Al-Bashir has rejected any significant U.N. deployment as a violation of sovereignty.
On Tuesday, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor accused Sudan's minister of state for humanitarian affairs, Ahmed Muhammed Harun, of paying and recruiting militias responsible for murder, rape and torture in Darfur.
Harun, who is known to be a member of al-Bashir's inner circle, is alleged to have committed the crimes while a junior interior minister. The prosecutor also accused a militia leader, Ali Mohammed Ali Abd-al-Rahman, of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Sudan rejected the allegations and said it would not hand the suspects over for trial.
During Ahmadinejad's visit, Sudanese defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Hussein said that "both Sudan and Iran are being subjected to similar international challenges, particularly from the Untied States in its attempt to rearrange the Middle East."
For his part, Ahmadinejad said [that] "foreign presence" — shorthand for U.S. troops — is the root cause of problems in Iraq. "Today, continued occupation has added to insecurity and problems in Iraq," he said, and urged the "occupiers of the country" to revise their policies.
Ahmadinejad said that preserving the "legal government, territorial integrity and national unity in Iraq is the key to resolving the country's problems."
The U.S. has accused Iran of helping support Shiite militants in Iraq, but Ahmadinejad hurled accusations back on Wednesday, saying [that] the "occupiers" want to prevent Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other ethnic groups in Iraq from living peacefully together.
"Today, enemies want to sow seeds of discord in Iraq," he said. "Repeated mistakes by U.S. occupiers in Iraq have cost the lives of thousands."
By Reuters' Aziz El-Kaissouni...
(A brief, earlier version--"Iranian President Ahmadinejad arrives in Sudan"--is also still available.)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir accused the United States on Wednesday of creating strife in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Red carpets strewn with flowers were laid out for Ahmadinejad when he met Bashir at the start of a two-day visit to Sudan, which like Iran, is under U.S. and U.N. pressure.
Washington has accused Iran of having a secret program to build nuclear weapons and has charged that Sudan has failed to protect civilians from violence in its western Darfur region. Both oil-producing countries reject the accusations.
U.S. President George W. Bush's administration sees them as part of an Islamist alliance opposed to U.S. interests, along with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrilla movement in Lebanon and the Palestinian group Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel.
"We have followed with much concern the attempts to plant strife between parts of Iraqi and Lebanese society, and attempts to ignite civil war in Palestine," Bashir told reporters.
"As you know, a well-known outside power with an interest in weakening Islamic forces ... stands behind all these attempts. Our sole weapon in facing these attempts is unity."
Ahmadinejad said he agreed and added: "The age of the imposition of hegemony and authority of the corrupt powers is nearing its end."
He blamed the presence of U.S.-led foreign forces for sectarian and other violence in Iraq and said [that] the forces were no longer needed, because Iraq had a constitution, parliament and legitimate government.
"It has become clear ... that the presence of occupation forces on Iraqi territory was for no purpose other than to ... steal the wealth of this land and make use of a base to expand their hegemony over the countries of the region and of the whole Muslim world," said Ahmadinejad.
Iran says [that] its nuclear program is only for electricity, and Bashir said [that] Tehran had a right to develop its program for peaceful purposes.
Ahmadinejad described Sudan as a second home full of "dear, pious and revolutionary brothers".
By AFP's Mohammed Ali Saeed...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extended full support to his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Beshir, on his first visit to the country on Wednesday, blaming the United States and its allies for the region's woes.
On a two-day visit aimed at bolstering ties between the oil-producing Islamic states -- both considered state sponsors of terrorism by Washington -- the Iranian leader held talks with Beshir and several other senior officials.
"The forces of hegemony that are exerting pressure on the government and people of Sudan do not want to see a strong and effective" country, Ahmadinejad said, before going into closed-door talks with his Sudanese counterpart.
"We are confident that our brothers, the president of Sudan and his colleagues... will forge ahead and present a united front in confronting those challenges," he said.
Ahmadinejad later met Sudan's First Vice President Salva Kiir, who heads the former southern rebel movement's presence in the national unity cabinet, but [who] has often expressed differences with Beshir.
The Iranian president did not explicitly comment on Tuesday's decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request summonses for two Sudanese officials suspected of war crimes in the western region of Darfur.
The move represented the first attempt to hold criminally liable officials suspected of masterminding the atrocities carried out against civilians in Darfur over the past four years.
One of the two officials is Ahmed Haroun, the current secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, while the other is Ali Kosheib, a pro-government militia leader.
"Our enemies are trying to destabilise us but we are capable of foiling their plot," said Beshir, who also reiterated Khartoum's support for Iran's nuclear programme, which the West is concerned will be used to manufacture weapons.
Without naming it, Ahmadinejad also blamed the United States for destabilising Lebanon and "planting the seeds of sectarian discord" in Iraq.
The two delegations were expected to hold wide-ranging talks aimed at increasing bilateral cooperation in agriculture and industry that should culminate [on] Thursday with the signing of a package of agreements.
"Relations are at a very good level... We have many economic and cultural projects, in agriculture, energy and oil exploration in Sudan, and culture," Ahmadinejad said before leaving Tehran.
Iran's ambassador to Khartoum, Reza Amiri, said [that] he hoped [that] business partnerships could help increase the volume of two-way trade to 70 million dollars a year, from the current level of 43 million dollars.
Iran has also offered its expertise in the oil industry, an area currently dominated by China, India and Malaysia.
However, an issue that has also been at the heart of Iran-Sudan ties is military cooperation, with Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein having visited Iran three times over the past year.
Hussein, a former interior minister and presidential adviser, is considered a key suspect by [rights] groups in the abuses that have plagued Darfur since February 2002.
Iran -- together with China, whose President Hu Jintao visited Khartoum earlier this month -- is a key ally of Beshir's regime and spoken out against plans for a UN deployment in Darfur.
"Sudan and Iran feel targeted, and must respond by making diplomatic efforts to better explain their positions in regional and international forums," Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Othman Ismail said this week.
Rights groups and Darfur rebels have urged the ICC to target more-senior Sudanese officials, including the defence minister and Beshir himself.
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