UN optimistic Sudan will accept military support

UN optimistic Sudan will accept military support
Khartoum_(dpa) _ The United Nations said on Wednesday it is optimistic Sudan will accept a proposal to dispatch UN military advisors and logistical support to aid the African Union mission currently monitoring war-torn Darfur.

“We all know that the Sudanese government is very much in favour of this because we all know that they want the African Union (AU) to stay and they are opposed to a transition to UN,” Bahaa Elkoussy, a UN spokesman, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and chairman of the AU Peace and Security Council, Alpha Omer Konare, appealed in a letter sent last week to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, to allow the UN to aid the struggling AU.

Al-Bashir has staunchly refused to allow the AU to transfer its mandate to the UN, but Sudan has indicated it may be willing to compromise on the offer of UN support.

Elkoussy said the Sudanese government is reviewing the package, which includes an offer of around 100 military advisors as well as support with logistics, transportation and communication.

An acceptance by Sudan would be a badly needed compromise that could bolster the cash-strapped AU mission.

The AU’s 7,700 troops in Darfur – a region the size of France -have struggled with a mandate that critics charge does not allow it to protect civilians.

The AU Peace and Security Council voted last week to extend its mandate in Darfur until the end of this year to prevent a security vacuum.

Renewed violence in northern Darfur has displaced thousands of people in recent weeks according to the UN. More than 2 million people have already been displaced in Darfur and eastern Chad.

Sudan says that it has begun a military campaign against rebels who refuse to sign onto a peace deal with the Sudanese government, but outside observers charge that Sudan has been bombing civilian villages.

Rampant insecurity had closed off much of northern Darfur to humanitarian workers.

The conflict began when rebels attacked government positions in February of 2003 complaining that remote Darfur remained undeveloped due to neglect by the central government.

Sudan is charged with arming Arab militias to crush the rebellion using a savage campaign of rape and murder, charges it denies.

Outside estimates have set the death toll in Darfur at around 200,000, but al-Bashir says those estimates are exaggerated and claims that fewer than 10,000 people have died. dpa nk tg pmc