Bush hopes to see NATO “take the lead” in Darfur

Mar 20, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — US President George W. Bush told NATO’s Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that he hoped the alliance would “take the lead” in ending violence in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.

But Scheffer, who met with Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, made it clear he saw the the 26-member alliance as playing more of a support role without troops on the ground in the African troublespot.

Bush, who had previously referred only to NATO “stewardship, planning, facilitating, organizing” said he and Scheffer had discussed “a strategy that would enable NATO to take the lead in Darfur”.

This would require the African Union, which heads the current 7,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Darfur, to formally ask the United Nations to take over control of the force, Bush said as he met with Scheffer in the Oval Office.

“At which point, if that’s done, the NATO can move in with United States help inside of NATO to make it clear to the Sudanese government that we’re intent upon providing security for the people there and intent upon helping work toward a lasting peace agreement,” Bush told reporters.

Scheffer sketched out a more-limited role for NATO in Darfur, where up to 300,000 people have died over three years of fighting between government-backed militias and rebels that Washington has labeled genocide.

In a brief interview with AFP after his talks with Rice, Scheffer specified that NATO could provide logistical support, transport and training for an eventual UN peacekeeping force.

Asked about the possibility of dispatching NATO troops to Darfur, Scheffer said, “No I don’t think so. I think NATO should have, as I have said many times before, the enabling role.”

Scheffer appeared cool to the suggestion that NATO take the lead in Darfur. “NATO is of course very important as an enhancer, as an enabler, but not with forces on the ground,” he said.

(ST/AFP)