Sudan’s Bashir informs Blair and Annan of his rejection of UN force

Nov 22, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — In phones calls with British Prime minister and UN Secretary General, the Sudanese president repeated his rejection of any UN forces or UN command for the African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur.

The President pointed out to the unchanged position of the Sudan that the command of the force remains African while accepting assistance from the Untied Nations based on the understandings reached in Addis Ababa, the official SUNA reported.

Expressing his welcome for the logistic and technical assistance to be provided by the UN for the African troops, al- Bashir said that the details of the reinforcement plan would be worked out by a tripartite committee formed by the Sudanese government, the African Union (AU) and the UN.

Kofi Annan confirmed to the press Wednesday Sudanese president call but Bashir said nothing to him, according to the UN secretary general.

“I spoke to (Sudanese) President (Omar) al-Beshir today and he has indicated he will be writing to me shortly,” Annan told reporters at the end of the closed-door council consultations. “I think I should wait for his letter.”

Following last Thursday’s meeting in Addis Ababa, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that Sudan had agreed in principle on the deployment of a joint AU-UN peacekeeping force in Darfur.

But the Sudanese government has denied the agreement, saying the UN could only play an supplementary role in the reinforced African troops in the war-torn region.

(ST)