Sudan opposed to more countries for Darfur forces

October 28, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan refused on Saturday to let in more countries other than those agreed upon by a recent agreement with the United Nations and the African Union (AU) to join a hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur.

Ali al-Sadig, the spokesman of the Sudanese foreign ministry, told the pro-government Sudanese Media Center (SMC) that according to the agreement, only the engineering units of the peacekeeping force would come from Thailand and China.

“Sudan does not concern itself with the countries which have not been named in the agreement,” the spokesman noted.

The Sudanese government, the UN and the AU reached an agreement during their meeting in Addis Ababa in June this year that most troops of the 26,000-strong hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur would come from African countries.

According to a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on July 31, the peacekeeping force would be deployed in Darfur by the end of this year.

The United States warned on Thursday that the Sudanese government could face further sanctions if it does not admit more countries from outside Africa to join the hybrid force.

“It’s very important that quickly they embrace this proposed package. Otherwise, I’m certain the U.S. will be looking at measures to ‘incentivize’ cooperation, and that includes further sanctions,” U.S. ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters.

(Xinhua)