Sudan denies acceptance of UN command over hybrid force
By Wasil Ali
June 19, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan denied reports that it has agreed to UN command of the proposed hybrid forces in Darfur. Sudan’s foreign minister Lam Akol said that statements by South Africa UN envoy in that regard were not accurate.
Akol said that the operations on the ground will be run by the African Union (AU) with the assistance of the UN in command and control structures. He added that there has been no change in Khartoum’s position on that since the Addis Ababa communiqué that set the framework for the UN-AU hybrid force.
Sudan’s position with regard to command of hybrid forces was echoed by Sudan’s UN envoy Abdalhaleem Abdalmahmood who stressed that the peacekeeping forces will be led by the AU. Abdalmahmood noted that it is still too early to talk about deployment of forces given that there are some technical details that have yet to be resolved with the UN on the hybrid force.
Earlier today the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was quoted as saying that the forces “will be commanded by the AU and its troops would mainly come from African countries”. He added that “only technical and civilian personnel could be sent by non-African countries to join the peacekeeping force”.
The recent statements by Sudanese officials cast new doubts on the commitment of Khartoum to the agreement on the hybrid force. Khartoum has a history of backtracking on its agreement as it did after initially accepting the full U.N. deployment in Addis Ababa last year.
At least 200,000 people have died in the western region and more than two million more fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels rose up three years ago drawing a scorched earth response from the military and allied militias
(ST)