Minawi says would accept UN in Darfur

Sept 14, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s most senior official on Darfur broke ranks with his government partners on Thursday saying he would accept U.N. troops in the region because African Union forces were too weak to stem the bloodshed.

Minni Arcua Minawi, the head of the former rebel Sudan Liberation Movement and now the fourth ranking member of the Presidency in Khartoum, also said renewed fighting in North Darfur which has displaced tens of thousands was very worrisome.

“The African Union can do nothing because the AU mandate is very limited. I myself am not satisfied with that the African Union is doing,” he told Reuters and the BBC in a joint interview.

Khartoum is on a collision path with the international community over its rejection of a U.N. Security Council resolution last month to deploy more than 20,000 U.N. troops and police to replace the cash-strapped AU force.

Minawi said if there was no alternative he did not object to a U.N. force, putting him at odds with his partners in peace, the dominant National Congress Party (NCP), who compare a U.N transition to a Western invasion intent on regime change.

“This was our idea before it was the idea of the U.N.,” he said. “If there is no alternative let the U.N. forces come.”

Critics say the NCP fear U.N. troops will arrest any officials likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating alleged war crimes in the region.

Minawi was the leader of the SLM faction which signed the AU-brokered peace deal in May. Two others refused and tens of thousands of Darfuris have demonstrated against it saying it does not meet their basic demands.

Minawi himself admitted the deal was far from ideal, but was the only way to create a basis from which to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

“I’m not happy from what I achieved … but … there are problems, humanitarian problems, bloodshed and this had to be stopped, that is why we signed the peace,” he said.

WORRISOME DEVEOPMENT

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes to miserable camps in Darfur during 3-1/2 years of conflict. Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government of neglect.

But since the May deal, fighting has escalated as the government launched an offensive against non-signatory rebels in North Darfur. Minnawi confirmed the fighting and said it had to stop.

“It is worrisome for everybody,” he said. “There is some fighting going on in North Darfur … but I don’t blame only the government I also blame also the NRF,” he said.

The National Redemption Front (NRF) is a new alliance formed from rebels who oppose the May deal. They renewed hostilities with the government in the Kordofan region bordering Darfur, prompting the government response in Darfur.

The NRF say technically the April 2004 ceasefire deal signed by all the rebels only binds them in Darfur and they are free to attack the government outside the region. Khartoum calls them “terrorists”.

U.N. officials have warned of an impending humanitarian disaster if the fighting does not stop. The European Union special envoy for Sudan, Pekka Haavisto, said after a trip to Darfur there was clear evidence the government was bombing civilian villages.

Any offensive flights by government planes would be a violation of international law according to previous U.N. Security Council resolutions. Khartoum denies any bombings.

(Reuters)