UN says to remain ‘vigilant’ over Sudan’s compliance on Darfur

September 20, 2007 (NEW YORK) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview aired Thursday that the United Nations would be “vigilant” in ensuring Sudan complies with Security Council demands to allow humanitarian assistance to get to Darfur’s refugees.

Speaking on CNN television, Ban said he had been assured by Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir that the aid for the millions of suffering people in the war-torn region would flow smoothly.

“He will faithfully comply with all of the Security Council resolutions and his government’s own commitment,” Ban said.

“We will be very vigilant in urging him and in monitoring the implementation of his commitment.”

Ban also said that the deployment of a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force in the region has made “credible progress.”

The interview came as Ban readied to host together with AU Commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare a one-day meeting Friday of the key players in the Darfur conflict, focusing on ways to end more than four years of bloodshed in the western Sudanese region.

The meeting will seek to lay the groundwork for crunch talks between the Sudanese government and all Darfur rebel groups in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on October 27.

Meanwhile France on Wednesday called for a joint force of UN and European Union peacekeepers to protect civilians in parts of Chad and the Central African Republic where the refugee crisis caused by the Darfur war has spilled over.

It would consist of 300 UN police officers tasked with training 850 Chadians to police the displacement camps, and an EU military force of up to 4,000 to protect the areas — a proposal approved in principle by the Europeans in July.

They would also back up the 26,000 troops of the joint UN-AU peace force due to be fully deployed in Darfur by mid-2008.

(AFP)