US rejects Sudan president threat to fire on UN’s Darfur force
Aug 18, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — The U.S. on Friday dismissed a threat by Sudan’s president to fire on any U.N. force sent to Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003.
An expanded U.N. force would benefit the Sudanese government as well as the people of Darfur, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
“Ultimately, we believe that this is in the interest of all the participants in Sudan, including the government, and we expect that they will ultimately agree to let this go forward,” he said.
A draft resolution by the U.S. and the U.K. was introduced at the U.N. on Thursday.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has warned that Sudan’s army would fight any U.N. forces sent to Darfur, while the U.K.’s U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry stressed that no U.N. force would be deployed in Darfur without the consent of the government.
Casey said the Sudanese government has said in the past it would welcome the U.N. forces to help monitor and enforce a peace agreement. “That’s what we are trying to do here,” the spokesman said.
“And, ultimately, we believe that is not only what should happen but that is what will happen,” Casey said.
With violence escalating in Darfur, Jones Parry said he hopes the resolution can be adopted by the end of August.
U.S. deputy ambassador Jackie Sanders said the Sudanese government’s consent wasn’t required by the resolution, but “practically speaking it’s going to be useful to have the government on board to get this accomplished.”
The resolution would replace a 7,000-strong African Union force in the western Sudanese region with a U.N. peacekeeping mission of about 22,600 – comprising up to 17,300 troops, 3,300 international police officers, and 16 police units trained in riot and crowd control totaling about 2,000 officers.
A peace agreement signed in May by the government and one of the major rebel groups was supposed to help end the conflict in Darfur. Instead, it has sparked months of fighting between rival rebel factions. More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government.
(AP/ST)