UN troop move needs Sudan okay – Arab FM
Mar 26, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Arab nations are expected to refuse to endorse any deployment of UN troops in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region without the approval of the Khartoum government, according to a draft summit resolution.
But the stance, being drawn up ahead of an Arab summit in the Sudanese capital opening Tuesday, nevertheless falls short of Khartoum’s demands for full Arab backing for its rejection of any international forces in Darfur.
The UN Security Council voted on Friday to speed up plans to deploy peacekeepers to replace the African Union mission in Darfur where the combined effect of 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 text directed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, working with the AU and in consultations with the council “to expedite the necessary preparatory planning for transition” from the AU force known as AMIS to a UN operation.
The move was welcomed in Washington as a step toward ending the violence in Darfur.
But Sudan wants Arab backing for the the African Union mission “to abort attempts to handover its tasks to international forces,” Foreign Minister Lam Akol told fellow ministers on Saturday.
The draft resolution being debated by Arab foreign ministers at preparatory talks for the two-day summit however falls short of an outright rejection of the US-backed UN plans.
It urges “Arab countries to provide financial and logistic support to the African Union mission to enable it to pursue its tasks,” according to a draft copy viewed by AFP.
It also demands “African Arab countries to strengthen their participation in the AU troops in Darfur.”
But it only stresses that the deployment of foreign troops “should have the approval of Sudan’s government.”
Arab countries appear to have been taken by surpise by the timing of the Security Council decision.
“(This resolution) needs a calm examination to figure out how to deal with it,” Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told reporters Saturday.
He said discussions were ongoing with the Sudanese government “to reach an agreement over the issue.”
The 7,000-strong African Union force, which was deployed in 2004, agreed on March 10 to continue for six more months its mission, which is already being largely financed by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
War broke out in Darfur in February 2003 when rebel groups revolted against what they say is the political and economic marginalization of the region’s black African ethnic groups by the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum.
The government responded by unleashing the Janjaweed militia, a force of horse-mounted gunmen, which has been blamed for many atrocities including systemic rape and burning of villages.
(ST/AFP)