Sudan has no problem with increasing troop numbers to protect peace monitors

By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sep 4, 2004 (AP) — Sudan’s foreign minister on Saturday said his country does not object to increased numbers of foreign cease-fire monitors, plus troops to protect them, being deployed to crisis-torn Darfur.

Mustafa Osman Ismail’s comments follow U.N. calls on his government to allow more than 3,000 troops enter Darfur, something which Khartoum has yet to sanction.

But Ismail included the proviso that Khartoum would maintain the final say in choosing which countries provide more forces to monitor a rarely adhered to April 8 cease-fire deal between Sudanese authorities and two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement.

Sudan has been cool on allowing Western nations deploy forces to Darfur, but has shown more support for troops and monitors being sent by the African Union, which currently has about 80 military observers in Darfur protected by just over 300 soldiers.

U.N. envoy Jan Pronk told the Security Council this week that “we need thousands.” On reports that the United Nations was pushing for a 3,000-strong force, he added, “three is not enough.”

Ismail, speaking on state-run TV, said on “increasing the observers and forces to protect those observers, we do not have any objection to this in principle.”

“However, this has to be done with the consent and approval of the Sudanese government, which should approve the countries from which those observers come and on individual basis.”

He added that Sudan is able to “agree on that with the African Union, in accordance with the expected resolution of the U.N. Security Council.”

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, current head of the African Union, reiterated that the 53-nation bloc is ready to bolster its international monitoring force in Darfur _ if Sudanese government and rebels desire it.

“The African Union is prepared to send more protection forces and observers, if we’re asked for it,” he told reporters Saturday during a visit to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. He didn’t elaborate.

Pronk and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan have both called for an increased troop presence in Darfur, where a 19-month conflict has killed an estimated 30,000 people and driver more than 1 million from their homes.

The United Nations, which describes the situation in Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has called on the Sudanese government to do more to disarm Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, blamed for attacking African villagers in Darfur. The United States accuses Sudanese authorities of backing the militia, a claim which Khartoum rejects.

Pronk and council ambassadors have said they expect the Security Council to continue discussing his report, which was compiled after visits by U.N. teams to Sudan’s three Darfur states, and in the coming weeks to draft a new resolution to keep up the pressure on the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.

A July 30 resolution called on the government to disarm the Janjaweed or face possible diplomatic or economic sanctions.

But in his report, Pronk concluded that the time for sanctions “had not yet arrived and that we should give the government a few more weeks.”

The United States however reacted angrily to that recommendation and said there was evidence Sudan’s government was backing Arab militias in Darfur.

European Union foreign ministers reaffirmed Saturday that they would push for U.N. sanctions against Sudan, including a possible oil boycott and cutting EU financial aid to the impoverished country if its government does not move to end the fighting in Darfur.

“We will continue to exert pressure on the Sudanese government to comply … we certainly do not exclude sanctions,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU presidency.

Ismail reiterated Sudan’s rejection of the threat of sanctions and said it was unlikely that the United Nations would impose any.

“I expect the U.N. Security Council resolution to be made exempt of any sanctions imposition, it will not include any international intervention in Darfur,” he said. “It will demand the government (use) more security measures, such as disarming the militias or cornering and fighting the Janjaweed, and protect citizens in general.”

Ismail also called on the international community to match its words with deeds by helping his government to alleviate the suffering in Darfur.

“Many talk a lot but do little to help the people in Darfur,” he said, adding that the international community “should put their money where their mouths are.”