Sudan rejects UN Darfur resolution as illegal

Aug 31, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan rejected a Security Council resolution passed on Thursday to deploy more than 20,000 U.N. troops and police to its violent Darfur region as illegal and contravening a May peace accord, officials said.

“Our stand is very clear, that the Sudanese government has not been consulted and it is not appropriate to pass a resolution before they seek the permission of Sudan,” said Presidential Advisor Ali Tamim Fartak.

The presidential advisor responsible for Darfur, Majzoub al-Khalifa, told Al Jazeera television that the resolution was completely rejected by Sudan.

“We completely reject this resolution…which is illegal,” he said. “This resolution is opposing the Darfur peace agreement.”

The Security Council vote on Thursday was 12 in favour, with abstentions from Russia, China and Qatar, the only Arab council member, despite Sudanese and Arab requests the vote be postponed.

But the troops cannot be deployed until Sudan agrees. The United Nations wants to replace or absorb an African Union force in Darfur, which has funds until mid-October and whose mandate expires on Sept. 30.

Violence has escalated since the AU-brokered peace accord in May which was signed by only one of three negotiating factions and rejected by tens of thousands in Darfur.

Tens of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million people forced from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.

Washington calls the rape, pillage and murder genocide, a charge Khartoum rejects. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.

Observers say Khartoum, who likens the U.N. transition to Western colonialism, is worried U.N. troops would arrest any officials likely to be indicted by the ICC.

(Reuters)