Sudan NGOs: Spend money on Darfur aid, not troops

Sept 17, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese civil society groups called on the United Nations on Sunday to re-allocate any money earmarked for peacekeepers in the war-torn Darfur region toward humanitarian aid and development instead.

In a protest march coinciding with a planned global “Day for Darfur” backing the deployment of an international force for western Sudan, dozens of Sudanese pro-government activists marched to U.N. offices in Khartoum to oppose new peacekeepers.

In a written statement to the United Nations, they rejected rising pressure on Sudan to accept the deployment of more than 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur, where political and ethnic violence has killed tens of thousands of people since 2003 and has worsened in recent months.

“It is more productive for international organisations propagating the continuation of war and conflict to adopt peace building and support humanitarian activity in Darfur,” the statement by the Sudan Council of Voluntary Agencies said.

The statement said deploying an international force would “only add to the complexity of an already volatile situation”, and said funds would be better spent on development, confidence-building measures, and peace-building.

Western leaders, some African presidents, and international humanitarian groups say a U.N. force is the only way to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, where more than 2 million people have been displaced by fighting between government troops, rebels and militias.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has repeatedly said he would not accept U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.

CHANTS OF ‘DOWN, DOWN, USA’

The protesters, many of them women, chanted “Down, down, USA” and waved banners vowing to resist the deployment of a U.N. force. One protester vowed to turn himself into a suicide bomber to fight any troops.

“We will explode ourselves. We will be explosive forces, suicide forces,” said protester Youssef Aboul Qassem.

Another protester carried an effigy dressed in a white burial shroud representing the United Nations in Darfur.

International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have declared Sunday a global Day for Darfur and organisers said protests and rallies were planned in major cities worldwide, including London and New York.

Organisers have also called on supporters to wear blue hats in a show of support for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur.

“Most of the people outside know nothing about the Darfur conflict,” said El-Gemiabby Mohamed, a civil society activist. “We have to press for a ceasefire and let the Darfur people solve their problems.”

“But the solution is not to add another military force in Darfur. The solution is to force all the groups to come and sit down and talk.”

The mandate for a 7,000-strong poorly equipped African Union peace monitoring force expires on Sept. 30, and Sudan has said it would be allowed to extend its mandate only if it remains under AU control.

“We don’t want them (U.N. troops) to come to our country. We don’t want to be another Iraq,” said Abla Mahdi Abdel Moneim, one of the protesters. “If they come here, they will fail.”

(Reuters)