UN’s Ban visits Sudan next week to discuss Darfur peacekeeping
August 28, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Tuesday he will visit Sudan next week to test the government’s commitment to allow the speedy deployment of a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force in conflict-wracked Darfur.
Ban told a news conference that he wanted to go to Sudan to see “the very difficult conditions” that the African Union-U.N. force will operate under and “to know, first hand, the plight of those they seek to help.”
“But more, I want to create the foundations of a lasting peace and security,” Ban said. “My goal is to lock in the progress we have made so far, to build on it so that this terrible trauma may one day cease.”
Ban said he will also visit neighboring Chad, which has been affected by the spillover of the Darfur conflict, and Libya, which has played an important role in trying to get rebel groups in Darfur to join the government in new peace negotiations that will hopefully start in October.
Not long after he returns from Africa, Ban said he will host an international meeting on Darfur at U.N. headquarters on Sept. 21. It will follow up a ministerial meeting in Paris on June 25 that tried to push forward peace efforts in the ravaged Sudanese region and included the world’s major industrial and political powers, China and South Africa.
Ban said he chose this time to make the week-long trip to Sudan because of the resolution adopted by the U.N. Security Council on July 31 authorizing the “hybrid” force to replace the beleaguered 7,000-strong A.U. force now in Darfur no later than Dec. 31. The resolution was adopted after months of delay in getting agreement from the Sudanese government.
“This is the time for Sudanese government to fully implement the Security Council resolution,” he said. “Of course, their commitment will be tested in every aspect by the international community, by the United Nations.”
The secretary-general said this was “exactly” what he planned to discuss with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and other leaders. He said he also planned to raise the government’s recent expulsions of the country director of the aid organization CARE International and the top Canadian diplomat and European Union envoy.
In addition to seeking full support from al-Bashir for deployment of the A.U.-U.N. force, Ban said he will also be pushing the peace process, ensuring smooth delivery of humanitarian aid, and start talking about economic development in Darfur.
(AP)