UN to discuss Darfur peacekeepers next month

Feb 8, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) announced here Wednesday that the UN Security Council would hold a ministerial meeting next month in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on UN takeover of peacekeeping operations in Darfur.

Speaking at a press conference, UNMIS spokesperson Radia Achouri said that the UN Security Council reaffirmed the importance of backing the African Union mission in Sudan (AMIS) ahead of the transition to a UN operation.

She said that the UNMIS chief Jan Pronk predicted the transition would need great logistical resources and called for every possible efforts to sustain the current AU task on the ground.

The UN Security Council authorized last week planning for replacing the African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in Darfur with the UN forces, which was agreed in principle by the AU but strongly opposed by Sudan.

Sudan’s vice foreign minister Samani Al-Wasila said on Tuesday that money for such a force would be better spent bolstering an AUmission already in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur.

“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?” Al-Wasila was quoted by the state-run Sudan Media Center as saying.

“Government consent is an essential precondition for taking anysuch a move by the world organization,” he added.

The Darfur conflict erupted in early 2003 when two rebel groupstook up arms in the arid area, accusing the government of neglect.

AU has said it can no longer sustain a 7,000-strong peacekeeping forces in Darfur due to shortage of fund, staff and equipment.

(Xinhua)