Intense diplomatic activity in New York over Darfur
Sept 18, 2006 (NEW YORK) — Sudan backed a plan to keep African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Darfur amid a flurry of intense diplomatic activity here to end the bloodshed in the Sudanese western region.
With the Darfur tragedy high on the agenda of the UN General Assembly debate which kicks off Tuesday, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha said Monday that the mandate of the cash-strapped, 7,000-strong AU force in Darfur should be extended beyond September 30.
Taha reiterated that his government was willing to offer financial assistance to the AU force, an offer first made at an Arab summit in Khartoum in March.
In Washington, a US official said President George W. Bush would “probably” announce the appointment of a special envoy to Darfur, in his speech to the Assembly Tuesday. Another US official hinted that Andrew Natsios, the former head of the US Agency for International Development, would get the job.
Late last month, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution which calls for the deployment of up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers to replace the ill-equipped AU troops in Darfur. But Khartoum adamantly opposes the UN deployment.
Sunday, rallies were held in nearly 50 cities around the world to call for an end to the civil strife which has left up to 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced in impoverished Darfur since February 2003.
A key summit meeting of the AU’s 15-member Peace and Security Council (PSC) called here to rule on the status of the AU contingent in Darfur was postponed from Monday to Wednesday to allow all participants to take part.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who arrived unannounced in New York Monday to take part in the rescheduled PSC meeting, was likely to come under intense pressure to accept the UN force.
Beshir, who flew in from Havana where he attended the Non-Aligned Movement summit, will also address the UN General Assembly on the situation in Sudan.
Beshir claims that UN peace plans are a US-engineered ploy to invade his country and plunder its resources.
The United States and Denmark meanwhile called for a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council on Darfur here Friday to discuss Darfur.
US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said the foreign ministers of the council’s 15 members were being invited to take part along with their counterparts from Canada, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda, the Netherlands, Egypt, Chad, Norway and Algeria.
Bolton also announced that he was circulating a draft resolution calling for a six-month extension of the mandate of the 12,273-strong UN force in southern Sudan, which expires September 24.
The draft also reiterated a council call for beefing up the strength of that force to up to 20,000 so it can be shifted to Darfur to keep the peace there.
Addressing the UN Security Council, UN envoy Jan Pronk sought to reassure Sudan that the UN aim in Darfur was only “to protect the people, while respecting the sovereignty of the Sudanese nation”. He reiterated that any UN deployment there would require Khartoum’s consent.
“A transition to a UN force has to be made attractive for the Sudanese leadership in order to get their support,” Pronk said. “That also requires trust, confidence building and time.”
The envoy stressed the need to keep the AU force in Darfur until Khartoum gives its green light for a UN takeover.
Pronk also made it clear that a peace accord signed by Khartoum and the main Darfur rebel group — the faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Minni Minnawi — in Nigeria last May was not working because it did not include two other insurgent groups.
A smaller faction of the SLM led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur and another group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have refused to sign the accord, saying it did not meet all their demands.
“We have to bring them on board. That is the first condition to bring the DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement) out of the coma,” PronK said.
In a related development, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed Darfur with her Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing here Monday morning, US officials said.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that during the meeting Rice “urged the Chinese to do everything they could do to allow in the international force, to allow for that transition from the AU mission to the UN force.”
China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, has close energy ties with Sudan.
(AFP/ST)