Sudan move on AU troops not “entirely positive” – UN Annan
Sept 5, 2006 (ALEXANDRIA) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday characterised as not “entirely positive” Sudan’s decision to expel African Union peacekeepers from Darfur if their mission is placed under U.N. control.
A U.S. and British-backed United Nations resolution, which passed last Thursday and was immediately rejected by Khartoum, says 20,000 U.N. troops should take over peacekeeping duties from AU forces, which have been unable to end the violence that has ravaged Darfur for 3-1/2 years.
AU troops were to fill the gap until the arrival of the U.N. troops and be absorbed into the U.N. operation.
Sudan said on Monday it would allow African troops to remain in Darfur only under African Union control and gave the AU a week to decide whether to extend its mandate beyond Sept. 30, backed by Arab League and Sudanese funding, or leave Darfur.
“Yesterday, certainly an important decision was taken by the Sudanese government which I don’t consider entirely positive on the African Union force,” Annan told journalists in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.
The head of the AU mission reaffirmed shortly after Sudan’s ultimatum that his troops would leave when their mandate expired at the end of this month. The AU has said without a major infusion of international funding its 7,000 troops could not remain in Darfur into October.
“I thought they were going to stay on but apparently they are going to leave,” Annan said.
“It leaves hanging in the air the question of what happens to the internally displaced persons and the people who are in need of help in Darfur,” he added.
Since a rebel uprising against the government in Khartoum began in February 2003 in Darfur, tens of thousands of people have been killed and 3 million have been driven from their homes to create one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
A peace deal signed between the government and one rebel faction in May briefly seemed to offer hope to the region but it was quickly denounced in Darfur and since then violence has intensified, according to aid workers and security analysts.
Sudanese officials say they oppose a U.N. presence in Darfur because would produce an Iraq-style quagmire and accused Washington of supporting the U.N. deployment to further its goal of “regime change” in Khartoum.
Sudan has said it could police Darfur with 10,000 Sudanese troops and does not need international forces patrolling its vast west.
Analysts say Khartoum is concerned U.N. troops would arrest government and militia allies who will likely be named by the International Criminal Court investigating charges of genocide in Darfur.
(Reuters)