Sudan proposes tripartite force for Darfur

Jan 15, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has proposed the formation of a tripartite force including its own troops, rebel movements and the African Union (AU) to maintain peace in Darfur, the foreign ministry said Sunday.

The proposal came amid growing expectations the United Nations would send its own forces to the war-torn region of western Sudan in a bid to quell the violence AU peacekeepers have failed to contain.

“We have proposed at the recent AU Peace and Security Council meeting in Addis Ababa the formation of a joint force,” foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Mohamed Ibrahim told AFP.

Such a proposal was likely to be fiercely opposed by rebel movements, who want Western troops to take over from the close to 7,000 AU peacekeepers who have been deployed since 2004.

Un Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, told the UN Security Council Friday that the international community had failed to address the situation in Darfur and needed to dispatch a more robust force.

While Khartoum has sought to assert its right to choose who would be in charge of peacekeeping operations, the AU itself has warned Sudan it would be bound by any AU decision allowing a UN deployment.

During a press conference Saturday, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Sudan “would explore all alternatives” to a UN deployment.

Ibrahim repeated Sunday that it was “too early to decide on whether we are going to accept any resolution on deployment of international forces”.

Sudan has expressed its satisfaction with the performance of AU peacekeepers and urged the international community to come forward with the funds for the contingent to continue its mission.

(ST/AFP)