Germany mulls possible UN role in Sudan

BERLIN, Dec 31 (AFP) — A German government minister has launched a debate over a possible UN peacekeeping role in Sudan and whether Germany should take part in any operation.

Kerstin Mueller, a junior minister at the foreign ministry, said that if the United Nations were to decide to send a mission to Sudan, Germany should participate.

Her comment came as the Sudanese government and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels narrow in on a peace deal aimed at ending a civil war that has claimed 1.5 million lives and displaced around four million people.

The United States is pushing for a settlement within days, which Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said could be reached by next week.

Although the United Nations has not publicly opened a debate on whether a peacekeeping force should be sent, Mueller said Germany should be looking to take part both militarily and in terms of civilian help.

Mueller, of the Greens party, was backed by the influential newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung which said it would be good to increase German influence in the region.

Even if the parties reached a peace deal, “a lot of aid will be necessary” to help “break the logic of war” and it should include deployment of military observers, the paper said.

But spokesmen for the opposition Christian Union alliance criticised her, saying the German army, which is already heavily committed in the Balkans and Afghanistan, was stretched enough.

The centrist opposition Free Democrats said Germany should lend its political muscle rather than troops.