Sudan’s Bashir rejects strongly UN peacekeepers

June 20, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir voiced strong opposition to the deployment of Western troops in war-torn Darfur, vowing his country would not be “recolonised”, state media reported Tuesday.

“I swear that there will not be any international military intervention in Darfur as long as I am in power,” Bashir was quoted as telling a meeting of his ruling National Congress late Monday.

“Sudan, which was the first country south of the Sahara to gain independence, cannot now be the first country to be recolonised,” he said.

Bashir who was speaking before the consultative meeting of the parliamentary commission of the ruling National Congress party, renewed call to the holdout rebel groups to join the 5 May deal signed with the SLM-Minawi.

The United Nations wants to replace an embattled and under-equipped contingent of African troops in the western region of Darfur with its own peacekeepers in a bid to shore up a fragile peace deal.

Khartoum has not completely ruled out a UN takeover but has repeatedly voiced its opposition to any deployment without its prior consent and accused Western powers of challenging Sudan’s sovereignty.

(ST)