Thousands protest in Darfur against UN resolution

Sept 6, 2006 (NYALA) — About 10,000 demonstrators have protested in the South Darfur town of Nyala against last week’s Security Council resolution calling for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in the strife-torn Darfur region, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported today.

Many of the demonstrators threw stones at UN offices in Nyala, the provincial capital, as well as at the compounds and vehicles of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Last Thursday, 12 Council members voted in favour – while three members abstained – of expanding UNMIS’ mandate to cover Darfur, where spiralling violence and displacement has led senior UN officials to warn of an impending humanitarian catastrophe.

Resolution 1706 “invites the consent” of the Sudanese Government to the deployment of more than 17,000 additional troops. But Khartoum has said on several occasions that it is opposed to any kind of UN force taking over the role of the African Union’s (AU) current operation, known by the acronym AMIS, in Darfur.

Speaking to reporters yesterday in Alexandria, Egypt, during his tour of the Middle East, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the planned force of blue helmets will only be effective if there is Sudanese consent and cooperation.

But he warned the Government that if it is not successful at protecting an estimated 3 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, then “it will have lots of questions to answer to the rest of the world.”

Mr. Dujarric said UNMIS also reported that armed men fired on an AMIS patrol of six vehicles near Kutum in North Darfur on Monday. The mission said the patrol was able to return safely to Kutum, while the armed men fled when one of their vehicles was hit during an exchange of gunfire.

(UN News Service)