Sudan dismisses UN frustration over Darfur force
Feb 7, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan dismissed U.N. criticism of President Omar al-Bashir’s failure to approve a joint U.N.-African Union force for conflict-torn Darfur, insisting Wednesday that only “minor details” stand in the way of an agreement.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who met al-Bashir last month, said Tuesday he was still waiting for a “clear agreement” from the Sudanese government to pave the way for deployment of the “hybrid” force. He said unacceptable delays were preventing help from reaching millions of victims.
Al-Bashir has rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for 22,000 U.N. peacekeepers to replace the overwhelmed African Union force in Darfur. He has sent mixed signals about a joint U.N.-A.U. force.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq said Sudan has agreed to a three-phase package culminating in the deployment of the joint force. He said there is full agreement on the first two phases, which call for the U.N. to provide, gear, funds and a few hundred advisers to reinforce the 7,000 A.U. peacekeepers.
All parties have also agreed that a group of experts would then decide how many U.N. troops should deploy for the full-fledged joint mission, he said, adding that Sudan would accept whatever number is decided upon.
“Even if they are 20,000 troops, we have no problem with that, as long as they are mainly African troops with U.N. expertise,” Sadiq said.
“Our position is clear regarding the hybrid mission, there are no ambiguities on the force and only minor details need to be finalized,” he said.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million been chased from their homes in Sudan’s remote western region since 2003, when rebels stemming from ethnic African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government.
Security Council members the U.K. and the U.S. said Tuesday there was frustration and skepticism among council members over progress toward deploying the joint mission.
Violence has only worsened since the government and one rebel group signed a peace agreement in May. The government is accused of masterminding a brutal counterinsurgency using Arab militias known as the janjaweed. The government denies the charges.
Last week, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Sudan was fully cooperating with the international community over Darfur.
But Tuesday, Al-Bashir told trade unionists that Sudan could “solve its own problems without foreign intervention,” the official SUNA news agency reported.
Earlier in the week, he insisted, “We will not allow U.N. forces into Sudan.”
However, some 10,000 U.N. troops are already in southern Sudan enforcing a peace deal in a separate conflict, and observers say al-Bashir’s statements could be mainly for domestic politics.
At the U.N. Wednesday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson briefed Ban on his visit to Sudan last month. Richardson, a presidential candidate, said he got three rebel groups to agree to a 30-day cease-fire, though one reneged the following day.
Richardson said he told Ban he strongly backed the secretary-general’s appointment of a special envoy to try to get all rebel groups to return to talks and sign a peace deal. He also stressed the importance of creating the joint A.U.-U.N. mission.
Richardson said the U.N. should put a new permanent envoy in Sudan and keep special envoy Jan Eliasson, who is focusing on a political settlement.
As part of the effort to re-energize the peace process, Eliasson and the A.U.’s special envoy for Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, are heading to Khartoum and Darfur from Feb. 12-17.
“There’s got to be somebody constantly on the ground pushing to get both sides together, to talk to the rebels. The rebels are fractionalized,” Richardson said.
(AP)