Sudan FM reiterates rejection of UN force to Darfur

Mar 25, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan Saturday repeated its rejection of U.N. peace keeping forces to Darfur, reacting to the Security Council’s decision to expand the monitoring operations.

“We reject sending any further troops to Darfur,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol Ajawin told at a preparatory meeting of his Arab counterparts in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, ahead of the Arab summit next week.

Ajawin asked Arab foreign ministers for their countries’ support for Sudan’s position.

The Security Council voted Friday to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Sudan to monitor an accord ending a 21-year civil war and authorized planning for the expected extension of the U.N. force’s operations to Darfur.

A 7,000-strong force from the African Union has been trying to prevent the three-year conflict in Darfur from escalating.

The African Union’s Peace and Security Council decided in principle on March 10 to keep the African Union force in Darfur until Sept. 30, when the handover to the U.N. is expected.

Sudan had said before the Security Council’s Friday vote that it opposed a U.N. takeover of the African peacekeeping mission.

An estimated 180,000 people have died, mainly of hunger and disease, and some 2 million have been displaced since rebels from Darfur’s ethnic African population revolted, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and decades of neglect.

(ST/AP)