France urges Sudan to accept UN force for Darfur

Sept 7, 2006 (PARIS) — The humanitarian crisis in Darfur must be tackled and Khartoum is going to have to accept the presence of a United Nations force in the region, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Thursday.

“There is a humanitarian drama going on in Darfur. It is terrible, disastrous,” Douste-Blazy told reporters. “We don’t have the right in today’s world to let these women, children and civilians die. It’s not possible.”

The minister said up to 300,000 people had died in Darfur during more than three years of fighting between rebels and government-backed militias, and more than 2 million civilians had fled their homes.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution last week which transferred control of an African Union peacekeeping mission to the United Nations after its mandate expires on September 30.

However, Sudan has rejected any U.N. presence in Darfur, saying it was tantamount to an invasion that would result in an Iraq-style quagmire, attract jihadis to battle Western troops, and further a U.S. goal of “regime change” in Khartoum.

Douste-Blazy said he would visit Sudan very shortly to discuss the problems, but insisted the United Nations forces had to be given access.

“It is essential that the Sudanese authorities, who are sovereign over this territory, accept this force,” he said.

“We have to be aware of what is going on in Darfur. It is not acceptable and is excessive,” he added.

Khartoum has offered to send thousands of Sudanese troops to Darfur to act as peacekeepers, an offer critics have said would only inflame the situation because many in Darfur blame the government for the violence.

(Reuters)