UN Darfur meeting set whether Sudan attends or not

Aug 24, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The U.N. Security Council president challenged Sudan on Thursday to attend a meeting next week on the crisis in Darfur and said the session would go on with or without an official Sudanese presence.

Nana Effah-Apenteng, Ghana’s U.N. ambassador and the council president for August, acknowledged, however, that the Monday meeting would be scaled back after the Arab League asked for its postponement and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir urged the council “to be patient” on Darfur.

Tens of thousands of people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes by violence in Darfur since early 2003. To put down a revolt by mostly non-Arab rebels, Sudan’s government armed mainly Arab “Janjaweed” fighters, who have waged a campaign of rape, plunder and murder.

With U.N. officials warning of a new humanitarian disaster in the western Sudanese region, the United States and Britain have asked the council to quickly adopt a resolution clearing the way for the 7,000 African Union troops now in Darfur to be replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force more than twice as big.

“Darfur is on the verge of a dangerous downward spiral,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said in Washington. “We must stop the genocide,” she said, announcing plans to head to Sudan on Friday to press President Bashir to let in U.N. troops.

The plan has the African Union’s backing. But Bashir has repeatedly refused to consent to a U.N. force in Darfur.

Effah-Apenteng called the meeting to get Sudan’s views on the draft resolution and an explanation of its rival plan to instead deploy 10,500 more government troops in Darfur.

Some human rights groups and council members see the Sudanese government plan as a ploy to prevent the deployment of U.N. troops so the slaughter can continue unchecked.

But Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo last Sunday, appealed to the council to call off the meeting and give Khartoum more time to carry out its own plan.

‘A MATTER OF REGRET’

Sudan’s people and not the government were to blame for opposing the U.N. plan, Bashir wrote the council. “Accordingly we request the Security Council to be patient and not be in a hurry to adopt a new resolution on the matter,” he said.

But Effah-Apenteng rejected postponing the meeting — set to take place in the council chamber with full media coverage.

That prompted Sudan’s government, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to say they either would not participate or would send low-level officials.

That decision “was a matter of regret to some of us on the council,” Effah-Apenteng said.

But most of the council’s 15 members wanted to “leave the door open” because all believed a force could not be deployed in Darfur without Khartoum’s consent and acknowledged negotiations could take some time, he said.

He would now meet with Sudanese diplomats at the United Nations to propose a meeting behind closed doors instead.

“If they can come, fine. If they don’t come, fine,” he said. But if Sudan persisted, he would go ahead with an open meeting and invite U.N. peacekeeping officials to use it to comment on the Sudanese proposal, he said.

“The situation in Darfur is very grave,” he said. “We don’t want to be accused of inaction on this issue.”

(Reuters)