Pronk – Growing climate of distrust of UN looms in Sudan
Feb 28, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The U.N. envoy to Sudan says there is a strong distrust of the United Nations and talk of al-Qaida activity to resisit the UN force is growing in the capital, Khartoum.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Jan Pronk Tuesday said both are linked to the uncertainty surrounding peacekeeping operations in the strife-torn Darfur.
“We are strongly opposed to any foreign intervention in Sudan and Darfur will be a graveyard for any foreign troops venturing to enter,” he was quoted as saying Saturday.
“Politically we are a bit in a stalemate,” Pronk said, referring to the African Union peacekeeping force in the Darfur region, and whether it would be replaced by a U.N. operation.
“The climate in Khartoum against the United Nations is heating up very strongly… threats, there are warnings, there is talk about al-Qaida. There also is fear in Khartoum the U.N. transition was but a conspiracy which will bring Sudan into the same situation as Iraq a couple of years ago.
Bashir, who regularly accuses the United States and its allies of fomenting a conspiracy to plunder his country’s resources, again accused the West of seeking to use the western region of Darfur as a launch pad to spread its interests in Sudan.
“It’s also a feeling which is true for many people in the streets of Khartoum, and in that very difficult situation we at the moment are working,” said Pronk, who heads the U.N. Mission in Sudan.
The mission was deployed to support the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed about a year ago in Nairobi between government of Sudan and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.It also has a mandate from the U.N. Security Council to provide some support to the AU mission in Darfur.
Despite the peace agreement, violence involving the rebels, the government and militias has continued in the western Darfur region, prompting the Security Council Monday to consider sanctioning individuals deemed to be a threat to the peace or to human rights in the area.
(ST/UPI)