US Richardson will ask Sudan to OK more UN troops in Darfur
Jan 6, 2006 (SANTA FE, New Mexico) — Heading on a diplomatic mission to Sudan, Gov. Bill Richardson said Saturday he hopes to persuade the Sudan’s president to accept more U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur – a goal that has eluded world leaders.
The New Mexico Democrat, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, said he does not expect to settle President Omar al-Bashir’s dispute with the U.N. over troop levels during the trip beginning this weekend.
He plans to meet with al-Bashir in Khartoum Monday, and with rebel leaders on Darfur Tuesday. Sudan’s state news agency confirmed Saturday that Richardson would meet the president; several Western officials were unable to get a meeting with the Sudanese leader during their recent visits.
Richardson, who was U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton, said he has three goals for his visit to the African nation: increasing the U.N. forces in Darfur, improving the humanitarian situation and helping encourage a cease-fire.
“I’ll consider it a success if we accelerate movement in those areas,” Richardson said. “But I don’t want to raise expectations. I don’t think we’ll settle the U.N. issue.”
The dispute is over a three-stage plan to send 20,000 peacekeepers and police to Darfur to protect 2.5 million people uprooted since early 2003 by the war. More than 200,000 people have died, victims of violence as well as malnutrition and disease.
Al-Bashir indicated in late December that he would go along with a plan that would create a hybrid U.N.-African Union force. But al-Bashir’s U.N. ambassador quickly ruled out any U.N. peacekeeping operation in Darfur.
President George W. Bush’s special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, met with al-Bashir last month. Natsios said he insisted al-Bashir allow 60 U.N. troops and civilians in Darfur by the end of the year, but the State Department says only 20 civilians have been deployed.
Natsios, who is scheduled to visit China this week to ask for help in bringing peace to Darfur, has not responded to a request for comment about Richardson’s trip.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday the U.S. urges all parties in the conflict to refrain from violence “that prevents a durable cease-fire.”
Richardson said he is visiting Sudan in cooperation with Natsios. He said Bush has “done the right thing” in Darfur, sending in humanitarian aide and speaking out at the U.N.
“The thought is that if we go in with a bipartisan appeal, we might be able to make progress with Bashir,” Richardson said.
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs “expressed hope that Richardson’s visit will contribute to correcting the image of the situations in Darfur (in the) U.S. Congress,” the official news agency said Saturday.
Richardson is making the trip at the request of the Save Darfur Coalition, which is paying for the travel. The group asked Richardson’s help because he has a good relationship with al-Bashir and has successfully negotiated with him in the past.
(AP)