The East African Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) opposes taking the south Sudan question to the UN Security Council, an executive for the body said in remarks published Tuesday.
IGAD "is strongly opposed to raising the problem at the Security Council," Executive Director Atalla Hamad Beshir was quoted as saying by Al-Sahafi Al-Dawli newspaper.
He also said the regional body, which has been sponsoring efforts for the past decade to end Sudan's 17-year-old civil war between southern rebels and the government, would not have its initiative "incorporated" into a bid by Egypt and Libya to settle the entire Sudanese political problem.
But Beshir, a Sudanese who recently took his position, said IGAD is not opposed to the Egyptian-Libyan bid and believes that the two initiatives "can go alongside each other".
The Djibouti-based executive director is currently visiting Khartoum to prepare for a meeting of IGAD foreign ministers in the Sudanese capital next May. IGAD groups Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Somalia -- KHARTOUM (AFP)
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