Sudan will not allow UN forces in Darfur to conduct night flights

December 2, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government will not allow the proposed UN-AU force in Darfur to fly at night, a senior Sudanese official said.

Sudan Foreign ministry spokesman Ali Al-Sadig told the daily Al-Rayaam that Darfur airports are not properly lighted and as such planes will not be allowed to fly at night.

Last week the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the progress made on the Darfur peacekeeping force.

The UN official said that the Sudanese government has yet to agree on the composition of the force. The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has made public remarks rejecting the inclusion of non-African troops.

Guehenno accused Khartoum of putting administrative obstacles that may weaken the efficiency of the hybrid force. He pointed out that Sudan has refused to grant the UN permission to fly at night in Darfur.

“The responsibility to protect did not end at sunset” Guehenno said.

Al-Sadig said that any issues regarding the deployment of the force should be discussed within the tripartite committee that includes the UN, African Union (AU) and Sudan.

Sirag Al-Deen Hamid, head of peace department in the Sudanese foreign ministry, told Sudan news agency (SUNA) said that the problem in with UN on peacekeeping operations that “Guehenno has an agenda different from UNSC resolutions”.

Hamid accused the UN Department of peacekeeping operations of “being unable to manage the hybrid operation properly”.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.

(ST)