Sudan’s Beshir again slams foreign troops for Darfur

Mar 4, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir repeated his country’s refusal to allow any UN-led troop intervention in strife-torn Darfur, but still insisted Khartoum was committed to working with the world community.

“We are opposed to foreign intervention in Darfur although we remain committed to cooperation with the international community,” Beshir told a military ceremony in Omdurman, which neighbours Khartoum.

Beshir once more described plans for the United Nations to take over security responsibility from the African Union as “dangerous” and called on the world to be aware of “the need for respecting the peoples’ sovereignty.”

Beshir claimed his government “has been backing the African Union forces since their arrival in the Sudan.”

Beshir warned on February 26 that Darfur would become a “graveyard” for any foreign military contingent entering the region against Khartoum’s will.

The war in Darfur broke out in February 2003, when black ethnic groups launched a rebellion against Khartoum that was brutally repressed by the Arab Islamist regime of Beshir.

The combined effect of the war and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises has left up to 300,000 people dead and an estimated 2.4 million displaced.

The 7,000-strong African Union, which was deployed in 2004, has been suffering from poor funding and inadequate resources to contain the escalating bloodshed in Sudan’s western region.

The United States has been lobbying for the sending of a new UN-led force, backed by NATO, and probably double the current African Union (AU) deployment, to take over peacekeeping in Darfur despite Khartoum’s opposition.

(ST/AFP)