Denmark says ready to send troops to Darfur

Feb 28, 2007 (COPENHAGEN) — Denmark is ready to send troops to Sudan if the United Nations asks, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday, lashing out at the UN for its failure to act in the face of the Darfur tragedy.

“Denmark maintains its promise that it is able to and wants to contribute (troops) if we are asked,” Rasmussen told reporters.

But “the problem is the that UN has not yet been able to ask (for contributions from member states) because of a lack of (a UN) clarification of the situation in Sudan and Darfur, which I regret deeply,” he said.

The Danish leader, who had previously indicated his country’s willingness to send troops to the African country, said it was “shameful that the international community appears practically powerless to find a solution to this intolerable situation in Darfur.”

He said he hoped there would “soon be a clarification of the situation in order to send UN troops to Darfur,” as has been strongly requested by the African Union which already has troops on the ground.

The Danish government last week announced it would withdraw its 430 ground troops from Iraq in August, enabling it to redeploy in other conflicts, such as Afghanistan or Darfur.

Khartoum has opposed the deployment of UN troops in Sudan, arguing that it is a mission for the African Union.

The UN wants to send more than 2,300 troops to Darfur to pave the way for a joint UN-African Union force of up to 20,000 soldiers.

The United Nations says some 200,000 people have died in the Darfur fighting and 2.5 million have been displaced since 2003.

The Darfur conflict began in early 2003 when the region’s ethnic African population launched a rebellion aimed at gaining more control over their region and resources from the Arab-led Khartoum government.

(AFP)