Mark's Notebook


	Only a mediocre person is always at his best. - W. Somerset Maugham

U.S., Darfur Have Shouting Match

Yahoo News, AP

Tuesday 15 November 2005, 11:58 am
Keywords: Christian Topics , News Articles

By Rodrique Ngowi, Associated Press Writer

SHEK EN NIL, Sudan - A senior U.S. envoy got into a shouting match with a Darfur government official Thursday over peacemaking in the restive region of western Sudan.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick had just listened to African Union military observers describe a recent outbreak of violence that had turned southern Darfur's Shek en Nil into a ghost village of burned out homes, and heard local leaders profess their commitment to peace.

Regional commissioner Sadiek Abdel Nabi followed as Zoellick stepped away for what was to have been a private additional African Union briefing in the remnants of a village home.

An angry Zoellick ordered Nabi out, saying: "I want to hear a straight story ... and I can't trust your government."

When Nabi refused, Zoellick said he would protest to President Omar el-Bashir.

"I am Bashir here!" Nabi shouted three times in English, standing inches from Zoellick. Nabi previously had relied on an Arab translator.

An AU officer persuaded Nabi to back off, and Zoellick heard details of three attacks on Shek en Nil in late September — all violations of a tattered cease-fire.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/sudan_us