Sudan president accuses UN of trying to send intelligence units to Darfur

By Wasil Ali

November 11, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir accused the UN of trying to send under cover intelligence agents as part of the hybrid force in Darfur.

Al-Bashir told Al-Jazeera Arabic channel in Qatar that his government agreed to a brigade of engineers from China and Pakistan only. He added that the UN is trying to replace them with units from Norway and Sweden.

“We refused to receive [engineers] from Norway and Sweden, and we will not accept this. We are convinced that the elements whom they insist to send to us from Sweden and Norway are intelligence elements; namely, MOSSAD [Israeli Intelligence] and CIA” Al-Bashir added.

The Sudanese president also criticized the UN for delaying the approval for the budget of the UN-AU hybrid force.

UN Security Council resolution 1769 establishing UN-AU hybrid force provided for a transition from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to the force known as UNAMID by December 31st.

However Ban Ki-Moon said in his latest report that several obstacles stand in the way of a speedy deployment including the land needed for the construction of UNAMID headquarters in Darfur. The Sudanese government has yet to assign the land for the hybrid force.

The other issue pending is Sudan’s approval on a list of troop donor countries for the Darfur force. At Sudan’s request the UN resolution called for a force with a “predominantly African character” but stressed the need for “a force which could effectively implement the mandate set out in resolution 1769”.

Jan Pronk, the former UN special representative to Sudan, told Sudan Tribune he has always been in favor of recruiting units from the same countries that are part of a separate UN peacekeeping force in Southern Sudan such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“These countries are now familiar with Sudan and there is a degree of understanding between them and Khartoum. There is also a common background in the case of some countries like Pakistan which is a Muslim country”.

However he said if these countries are unwilling or unable to contribute the needed troops then it is up to the UN to look in other countries.

“It is wrong to assume that UN troops will be a toy in the hands of other countries. The UN soldier loses his nationality once he puts the blue helmet on him. They are not partisans and Al-Bashir knows it” Pronk said.

“I know the Swedish and Norwegian troops. They are one of the oldest peacekeeping force and they have proven themselves to be very professional and impartial” he added.

Professor Eric Reeves, an expert on Sudan, said that Al-Bashir statements are another form of foot dragging by Khartoum on the hybrid force.

“The issue is not funding but Khartoum’s various forms of obstructionism” he said.

Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) founder and Chairman Abdel-Wahid Mohamed al-Nur said that Al-Bashir statements is the reason he insisted on the deployment of the peacekeeping force before attending peace talks.

“The world has been accommodating the stalling by Khartoum on the hybrid force for a very long time. I want to guarantee the security for my people but the Sudanese government is trying to renege on its agreement to the force and block it in every way possible” he added.

The Sudanese president also said that Scandinavian troops from Norway and Sweden will be at risk in Darfur.

“We in Sudan declared mobilization against the Scandinavians after the publishing of the offensive cartoons of the prophet. We believe that we will face the problem of providing them with protection when they arrive here” al-Bashir added.

Last year the Sudanese government barred the former UN humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland from visiting Sudan saying would be too sensitive because publications in his nation, Norway, were among those that published offensive cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

However Egeland at the time said the justification was just an excuse and said Khartoum did not want him “to see how bad the situation has become for the civilian population in South Darfur, in West Darfur”.

Both Pronk and Reeves dismissed the arguments put forward by Al-Bashir on the issue of the cartoons preventing deployment of Scandinavian troops, suggesting it was political.

“The move to characterize Scandinavian countries as anti-Islamic—their contributions as somehow defined by the Israeli MOSSAD, the CIA, and the work of a Danish political cartoonist—is typical of Khartoum’s efforts to appeal to domestic, Arab and Islamic audiences” Reeves said.

Pronk said that he met with the Governor of Southern Darfur when the issue of the cartoons broke out.

“He [Governor of Southern Darfur] told me that if there was a mistake made by someone then it is wrong to put the blame on a whole country for it” he said.

The former UN special representative noted that Sudan did not witness any violence like other countries in the aftermath of the cartoons describing their reaction as “mature”.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.

(ST)