Sudan defiant after UN chief’s warning over Darfur
Sept 10, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan insisted defiantly Sunday there would be no security vacuum if African peacekeepers leave war-torn Darfur next month.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had warned Friday that Sudan’s leaders could be held responsible for atrocities in the troubled western region if the African Union force is forced to pull out and Khartoum refuses to allow their replacement by U.N. troops.
Annan said that the Sudanese “are placing themselves in a situation where the leadership may be held collectively and individually responsible for what happens to the population in Darfur.” France Thursday raised the idea of sending U.N. peacekeepers to the region even without Sudanese permission.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jamal Mohamed Ibrahim said the African Union force had not been ordered out after its mandate ends on Sept. 30, but if it did leave, the situation would remain under control.
“Even if the AU decides to withdraw its forces, there will be no security vacuum as Sudan has its own plan for keeping peace and security in Darfur and implementing the Darfur peace agreement,” said Ibrahim in comments quoted by the official Omdurman Radio.
He reiterated Khartoum’s rejection of a recent U.N. Security Council resolution that called for the transfer of peacekeeping from the weak African force to a larger and stronger U.N. mission – which President Omar al-Bashir has denounced an attempt to impose Western colonial control over Sudan.
The understaffed and cash-starved African Union force of 7,000 peacekeeping troops has been unable to halt the violence in Darfur, a vast region the size of France, since a conflict began in 2003 between the Arab-led government and ethnic African rebels.
Some 200,000 people have died from warfare, hunger and disease in the past three-and-half years and another 2.5 million displaced and forced to live in squalid camps.
But the African force has provided a measure of security for aid organizations to operate in Darfur. Sudan last week said it would expel the AU peacekeepers if they insist on transferring their mission to the U.N.
Observers say Sudan is steadfastly opposed to the deployment of the U.N. force of 20,000 troops and police because it fears that Sudanese officials could be arrested on war crimes charges.
Since the revolt by ethnic African tribes seeking more autonomy began, the Sudanese government and its janjaweed Arab militia allies have been accused of unleashing a campaign of rape, pillage and murder.
(AP/ST)