Japan urges Sudan to accept UN forces for Darfur

Nov 6, 2006 (TOKYO) — Japan urged Sudan on Monday to accept the deployment of a U.N. mission to Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution, a Foreign Ministry official said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso made his call in a meeting with his Sudanese counterpart Lam Akol Ajawin, who is currently visiting Japan.

Aso was quoted as saying Japan finds it desirable for peacekeeping operations in Darfur to be taken over by the United Nations as the African Union Mission in Sudan, commonly referred to as AMIS, may not be adequate for the job.

The Sudanese foreign minister said in response that his country is by no means hostile to the United Nations but that it wants to resolve the issue on its own as any deployment will infringe on its sovereignty, the official said.

The foreign minister added that Sudan intends to resolve the issue by expanding AMIS, in an implicit refusal of Japan’s call for Sudan to accept the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1706 states that the U.N. mission currently operating in the southern part of Sudan will deploy to Darfur and that the United Nations will also strengthen its aid to the AU force already deployed in the troubled region.

The resolution was prompted by the failure of AMIS to halt the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, but Sudan has resisted a U.N. peacekeeping operation in the region.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in three years of conflict in Darfur.

(Kyodo)