Sudan likens UN force for Darfur to Iraq coalition

Feb 16, 2007 (PARIS) — Sudan’s president Friday likened the prospect of a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur to coalition troops in Iraq. However, President Omar al-Bashir suggested Sudan could accept more African Union peacekeepers – with U.N. support.

Al-Bashir said the U.N. resolution 1706 calling for 22,000 U.N. peacekeepers to replace an African Union force “practically puts Sudan under trusteeship and gives these forces a mandate similar to that of the coalition forces in Iraq.

“We cannot accept that Sudan is put under trusteeship,” he said.

Al-Bashir did not budge from his refusal of U.N. peacekeepers, either for Darfur or to monitor the borders with Chad and Central African Republic.

“With regard to United Nations forces in Darfur, we have already said ‘no’ and that would be valid also for the frontiers. But we accept the presence of African forces to control the borders with Chad and Central African Republic,” he said.

The three neighboring countries have accused each other of backing one another’s rebel movements, adding tension to the already volatile region, although they reached an accord on Thursday night to deny such support for armed rebels on each other’s territories from now on.

For Darfur, “we have accepted a hybrid operation. What does that mean? It means that the base of this force would be African forces, with a strong logistical, human, technical and other support so that the African Union can maintain peace,” he added.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million been chased from their homes in Darfur since 2003, when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the central government.

Khartoum is accused of having responded with indiscriminate killings by unleashing the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads – blamed for the worst atrocities in Darfur – in a conflict that the White House and others have labeled genocide. The government denies these charges.

(AP)