Darfur rebel commander slams AU chief rejection of intl troops
August 13, 2007 (LONDON) — A Darfur rebel commander has slammed statements by the African Union chief rejecting non-Africans troops in Darfur peacekeeping mission. He further urged the international community to rescue Darfurians.
“The African Union chairman statements in Khartoum yesterday lead us to reconsider our position on the participation of the African troops in Darfur because they take a sensitive issue like this [Darfur crisis] as business to earn money and gain positions;” said Suleiman Marjan, a leading rebel commander from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
Marjan said African Union officials seem more inclined to satisfy Khartoum than playing a neutral role to end the ongoing crisis in Darfur.
He further urged the international community to intervene in Darfur to rescue “those which remain alive” from Darfur people.
“Less than two weeks since the resolution was passed, that we have received enough pledges from African countries; thus, we would not need to resort to non-African troops.” Said Alpha Omar Konare according to a press statement distributed by the AMIS today.
The rebel commander also wondered why besides his rejection of international troops in Darfur, the AU chief says that the 26000 hybrid peacekeeping force is under African command while the UN resolution 1769 states clearly that these troops are under the UN command.
A senior U.N. peacekeeping official said there were sufficient troops for the force, mostly from Africa, but some would come from Asian countries too. European countries have pledged soldiers and police too.
Konare statements raise the fact that Darfur rebels were excluded during the elaboration of the peacekeeping mission. Some rebels told Sudan Tribune that during Naivasha talks between Khartoum and the former rebel SPLM the deployment of the international troops in the south Sudan was discussed by the two parties.
Observers say “rebels’ divisions, African Union lack of experience in the peacekeeping missions and the Chinese blind support to Khartoum at the UN Security Council caused may errors in the resolution of Darfur conflict both on the peacekeeping and the political process levels”
(ST)