Sudan’s president renews rejection of UN force in Darfur
Sept 9, 2006 (SYRTE, Libya) — Sudan’s president on Saturday renewed his rejection to having U.N. peacekeepers take over for the troubled and understaffed African force in his country’s war-torn Darfur region.
President Omar al-Bashir said the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the transfer of peacekeeping from a weak African force to a larger and stronger United Nations mission was “a painful strike to the African Union.”
Al-Bashir spoke after arriving in the Libyan port city of Sirte to take part in celebrations marking the anniversary of the African Union in 1999.
The African Union force, whose mandate ends Sept. 30, has been unable to halt the violence in Sudan’s western region. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution last month giving the U.N. authority over peacekeepers in Darfur when Sudan’s government gives its consent.
Sudan, which recently launched a new military offensive against rebels in Darfur, has repeatedly rejected having U.N. peacekeepers and instead has offered to send government troops to Darfur. Critics say such a move would only increase the violence.
“It is not of the African Union’s right to hand over its sites in Darfur to the International troops, but they should be handing these sites over to the Sudanese government that will carry out the peacekeeping operations and securing the citizens there,” al-Bashir said Saturday.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said negotiations between Sudan and the United Nations were necessary to find the best way to implement the Security Council resolution “in a way that guarantees restoring security and stability in Darfur as soon as possible,” according to a statement issued by the ministry.
Since the conflict began with ethnic African rebels seeking more autonomy in Darfur, the Sudanese government has been accused of unleashing Arab militiamen known as janjaweed who have been blamed for widespread atrocities. Some 200,000 people have died and several million have been displaced since 2003.
Despite a May peace deal signed by the government and one rebel group, U.N. officials and aid workers say the crisis has only worsened in recent months.
(AP/ST)