Annan hopeful UN peacekeepers will be deployed to Darfur
July 2, 2006 (BANJUL) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan held talks with Sudan’s president Sunday and said he was hopeful U.N. peacekeepers would eventually be deployed to the country’s war-wracked Darfur region.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is staunchly opposed to having a 7,000-strong African Union force there replaced by U.N. troops. The two met on the sidelines of a continentwide summit in Gambia’ capital, Banjul.
“In the world of politics, things change. We hear ‘never,’ ‘forever,’ and yet it does come around,” Annan told reporters. “And so I’m still expecting that in time there will be a U.N. peacekeeping force deployed to Darfur.”
The conflict in Darfur has left more than 180,000 people dead, driven 2 million from their homes and undermined stability in neighboring Chad and Central African Republic.
It began in early 2003 when members of ethnic African tribes rose in revolt against the Khartoum government. Sudan’s government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab militias known as the janjaweed who have been blamed for the worst atrocities.
The African Union’s policy-making peace council made clear this week it wanted U.N. troops to replace African Union forces, whose mandate expires in September.
Annan said that mandate was likely to be extended until December but the force needed more logistical and financial support.
“You’re dealing with a leader who may have genuine difficulties and genuine reasons for the position he’s taking and it’s my responsibility to explain to him why he will need the assistance of the international community,” Annan said of al-Bashir. “We had a constructive conversation this morning and we’re going to build on it.”
Addressing the summit Saturday, Annan called Darfur “one of the worst nightmares in recent history.” It is one of several conflicts African leaders hope to resolve. Others include Ivory Coast, Somalia and Uganda.
The firebrand presidents of Iran and Venezuela took advantage of the 53-nation African Union summit to declare solidarity with the impoverished continent and to lash out at the West.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez backed Iran’s controversial nuclear program, which the United States and the European Union want rolled back despite Iran’s insistence that its ambitions are peaceful.
Annan said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “underlined his positive approach to the nuclear discussions. I told him that … it is important that the every effort should be made to avoid any standstill in the diplomatic process.”
African leaders attending the conference included South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki.
(ST/AP)