Remarks With President's Special Envoy for Sudan Andrew S. Natsios After Their MeetingSecretary Condoleezza RiceWashington, DC December 20, 2006 View Video Andrew, thank you very much for the work that you're doing. We are -- we have put a new chapter ahead of us and I hope now that the Government of Khartoum is going to deliver. Do you want to say a few words? MR. NATSIOS: We also did get a two-year extension of the accelerated procedure for NGOs and aid workers from the UN to get into Darfur. They had not been extending this procedure. It's up in January. I asked President Bashir to do that and they announced yesterday that they were going to extend the procedure for two years, which was a -- good news for the humanitarian effort. QUESTION: Madame Secretary, you said that you expect them to respond. Do you have a reason to believe that they actually will, given their intransigence, so far? SECRETARY RICE: Well, we will see. But I think the international community has spoken. It has spoken repeatedly, but it has spoken again and it has spoken in response to a desire from the Government of Khartoum, President Bashir to have a reaffirmation by the Security Council of the agreements that Kofi Annan was able to work out. And that reaffirmation has taken place and so I would hope that there'd be a positive response and we will see. Thank you. Released on December 20, 2006 |