UN only needed for logistics in Darfur – Sudan FM
April 7, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol reiterated on Saturday that the United Nations should only play a logistical role supporting African Union troops in Darfur.
Sudan has rebuffed international demands to allow the deployment of a large U.N. force, saying supporting the under-funded and ill-equipped 7,000-strong AU force would be enough to stabilize the region.
At the heart of the debate with Western powers is the outcome of a November meeting in Addis Ababa. The United Nations says Khartoum agreed then to a three-phase plan that would end with a hybrid AU-U.N. operation in Darfur.
Sudan said it only agreed to the first two phases of U.N. logistical and financial support. Akol said on Saturday his country was not about to review its position.
After talks with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday, AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said there had been a clear agreement in Addis Ababa on a hybrid force consisting of African troops under AU command with logistical, financial and administrative assistance from the United Nations.
He said the size of the African force had yet to be determined.
“It is up to the African Union and the United Nations, with the help of the Sudanese government, to implement what we agreed on, especially in regard to the size of the African force deployed and the arms made available to them,” he told reporters.
“We should not waste time in getting logistical and financial support from the United Nations for these forces. This is one of the conditions for reaching a solution and peace in Darfur,” he said, speaking through a translator.
Asked how many African troops were needed, Konare said the AU and the United Nations would discuss the issue in a technical meeting next week in Addis Ababa, and the Sudanese government would be consulted.
Sudan accused European countries on Saturday of withholding support for African Union troops in Darfur to force the need for U.N. military intervention, to which the east African nation would never agree.
Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi, speaking in Nairobi after a four-day trip to Pretoria to discuss corruption, said logistical assistance was all that was needed to effectively boost the 7,000-strong AU force.
“AU forces were doing a valuable job, calming and enforcing the ceasefire … (but) technological and financial assistance was abruptly withheld by European countries so they failed, now that is their justification for more international military.”
Experts estimate that 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million fled their homes in Darfur since the conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the central government. Khartoum says only 9,000 died.
(Reuters)