Sudan reiterates opposition to UN peacekeepers for Darfur
Feb 7, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s junior foreign minister has reiterated his country’s opposition to plans to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur, saying money for such a force would be better spent bolstering an African Union mission already in the troubled western region.
“If there is a possibility of sending new forces to Darfur by the United Nations and the international community, forces that would cost double the costs of the African Union troops, then why shouldn’t this money be used for boosting the African Union forces?” Samani Al-Wasila was quoted as saying Tuesday by the pro-ruling party Sudan Media Center (SMC).
Last week, the U.N. Security Council authorized planning for the expected U.N. takeover of peacekeeping operations in Darfur. The African Union has agreed in principle to transform its underfunded, understaffed and under-equipped force in Darfur into a U.N. force.
Such a move is supported by many Security Council members, including current council president the United States, but has been strongly opposed by Sudan.
“Government consent is an essential precondition for taking any such a move by the world organization,” Al-Wasila was quoted as saying Tuesday.
Sudanese officials have portrayed plans for U.N. involvement as part of a Western plot to weaken Sudan.
“There are some invisible hands that continue to manipulate the question of Darfur for tearing up the unity of Sudan in preparation for controlling and looting its resources,” President Omar al-Bashir was quoted by the Sudan Media Center as saying on Tuesday. The agency said the president made the remarks at the opening of a regional medical meeting in his capital.
Al-Bashir’s government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militias to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages in Darfur in response to a separatist uprising. The government denies the charge.
Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in the vast western Darfur region erupted into large-scale violence in early 2003 when ethnic African tribes took up arms, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect.
(ST/AP)