Sudan will allow a UN force in Darfur – US’s Frazer

May 12, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — The top United States diplomat for Africa on Friday said she was confident Sudan will allow a U.N. force in Darfur, even though it has sent mixed signals on peacekeepers since signing an accord with rebels.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer also cautioned Khartoum that the international community would not sit on the sidelines if it refuses to admit the United Nations force.

The government of Sudan and the main Darfur rebel faction signed an agreement last week in the Nigerian capital Abuja to end three years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced 2 million to flee their homes.

“It (the government) has been offered the assistance of the whole world community and I expect them to accept that assistance,” Frazer, who helped African Union mediators seal the deal in Abuja last week, said in an interview.

Since the peace deal was signed, however, Sudan’s government has given contradictory signals over whether it will agree to U.N. peacekeepers and the European Union said on Friday it sensed growing resistance from Khartoum.

Asked what the United States would do if Khartoum did not accept U.N. peacekeepers to help about 7,000 under-equipped African Union forces in Darfur, Frazer said the international community would proceed as planned.

Pressed on whether this meant forced military intervention to end what the U.S. has termed genocide, Frazer said she was certain Khartoum would agree and this would not happen.

“There is no need to do the contingency plan if you expect the government of Sudan to agree to a U.N. operation,” she said. “They signed the Darfur peace agreement and they know what is needed to implement it.”

President George W. Bush telephoned Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir this week to press him to drop his longstanding opposition to a U.N. force.

U.S. TROOPS UNLIKELY

Frazer predicted Sudan would give a clear message after a meeting of African Union ministers in Ethiopia on Monday, adding that Khartoum was coming under strong pressure from both its neighbors and members of the Arab League to agree.

“I am not nervous at all,” she said. “I know that the international community will not sit on the sidelines and allow this violence to continue.”

Frazer said U.S. assistance would more likely be in planning, logistics, intelligence and communication than having troops on the ground in Sudan.

“The preference would be that the United States would not put combat troops in Darfur,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants that.”

While Sudan’s main rebel group signed a peace deal with the government, two smaller groups are holding out but Frazer said she was hopeful that Abdelwahed Mohammed al-Nur of the Sudan Liberation Army would soon sign on.

The violence in Darfur has spilled over into neighboring Chad, where a senior U.N. official said the world body was looking into creating an international force to protect civilians and refugees there from attack.

But Frazer said she did not think an international force was needed in Chad. Once Darfur is secured, the instability in the border area with Chad will be resolved, she added.

(Reuters)