Sudan’s Bashir denies Darfur UN force deal
Nov 27, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Monday any suggestion he had agreed to allow a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force to deploy in Darfur was a lie.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in Addis Ababa two weeks ago that Sudan had agreed to a joint U.N.-AU force.
“Any talk that we accepted joint forces is a lie,” Bashir told a news conference.
Bashir reiterated his rejection of a U.N. Security Council resolution authorising about 22,500 U.N. troops and police to take over from the ill-equipped AU force which has failed to stem the violence in Darfur.
“It is clear that any forces coming to Sudan under resolution 1706 are colonising forces,” he said.
Bashir denies U.S. charges of genocide in Darfur. A U.N.-appointed inquiry found no genocide but found that some individuals may have acted with genocidal intent.
The International Criminal Court said it was close to completing an investigation into alleged war crimes in Darfur.
Bashir said security in Darfur was better than ever and U.N. and other reports of deteriorating security were lies.
He also accused aid agencies in Darfur, where 14,000 aid workers are involved in one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations, of giving false information on the crisis to prolong their jobs in the region.
“ISRAEL LINK”
U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday telephoned Chinese and Egyptian counterparts Hu Jintao and Hosni Mubarak to try to enlist their help in urging Sudan to accept the U.N.-AU force.
Bush also asked Hu and Mubarak “to encourage President Bashir to stop any military activities by the Janjaweed (militia) and other forces against innocents in Darfur,” said White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
Bashir sharply criticised international media for focusing on Darfur to take attention away from U.S. policy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He added Israel had an indirect role in the Darfur problem.
“We have received indications and messages … that Sudan’s problems are related to the (lack) of normalisation of relations with Israel,” he said.
Sudan’s Islamist government does not recognise Israel.
Bashir challenged any organisation to show proof of the numbers of killed in Darfur. “Counting all those killed in battles between the armed forces, the rebels and the tribes, the number does not reach 9,000,” he said.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government of marginalising the arid region. Khartoum mobilised tribal militias to quell the revolt.
The militias, known locally as Janjaweed stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage which aid agencies say has killed at least 200,000 people and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes.
Minni Arcua Minnawi, a former Darfur rebel leader who became a presidential adviser after signing a May peace deal, on Monday accused Khartoum and Bashir of rearming the Janjaweed.
Bashir denied any link to the Janjaweed, calling them gangs of bandits.
Under a May peace deal signed with only one of three Darfur rebel negotiating factions, Khartoum undertook to disarm the Janjaweed by Oct. 22. But the militia attacked many villages in West Darfur in the past month, killing dozens of civilians.
(Reuters)