US pushes African and Middle East countries to contribute to Darfur force

November 18, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The US administration began high level contacts with countries in Africa and the Middle East to contribute soldiers and resources to the Darfur peacekeeping force according to a leading columnist in Washington.

Jim Hoagland a columnist at the Washington Post said in article published over the weekend that “principal members of Bush’s National Security Council met Nov. 9 and decided — finally — to press America’s allies in Africa and the Middle East at the highest levels of government to contribute soldiers and materiel to the 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”.

Hoagland said that US president George Bush called UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on October 30th to ask him on status of assembling the Darfur peacekeeping force after which the White House decided to begin an initiative to press countries to contribute.

The prominent columnist said that the US administration feels that the UN Chief has slowed down progress on Darfur force through his diplomacy.

“Washington now wonders if Ban has erred in investing much of his first year in office in coaxing the Sudanese rulers into pointless meetings and commitments that they gradually undo” Hoagland said.

Yesterday the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir reiterated his rejection of Western troops and others in Darfur peacekeeping force.

“The boots of those who blasphemed the prophet Muhammad would never trample on Sudanese land” Al-Bashir told the crowd at the Wad-Medani Stadium (Al-Jazeera State), some 200 miles south of Khartoum, celebrating the 18th anniversary of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF).

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)