?Darfur rebel leader urges to pressurize Sudan over Peacekeeping force
December27, 2007 (PARIS) — Darfur rebel leader today urged the international community to pressurize Khartoum to facilitate the deployment of Darfur peacekeeping force to curb the ongoing violence against the civilians and to create conducive environment for the peace talks.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune on the eve of the New Year, the founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement, requested the international community to help him to find a lasting peace in 2008.
Sudan’s government should facilitate the deployment of a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur and rebels should rejoin the peace process, Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the African Union Commission said on Monday during a visit to Darfur.
Al-Nur said his demand for the security of Darfur civilians should be adopted by all the peace lovers in the world adding it is a necessary matter before to start peace negotiations with Khartoum.
He explained that the mistrust in Khartoum led Darfur people to request the implementation of this measure before to start peace negotiations.
“Khartoum signed ceasefire agreement with us since 2004 and we accepted to negotiate with the government but it pursued the attacks and the killing of the civilians despite the fact that we were on the table of negotiations.” He said.
He further added that was “horrible fault” that they should not repeat.
The influential rebel leader said that the question of security before the talks is the demand of Darfur civilians who suffer from the daily aggression. He further added he has to defend the interest and the demands of his people.
“Do not forget that I’m a political leader before to hold the arms. We created the movement ten years before to create the military wing in 2002. So, our movement is not constituted only from people with guns and satellite phones we have our political organization and I have to respect their will.”
Al-Nur said “Go and ask Mr. Eliasson and other mediators who thought we were obstructing peace and tried to convince Darfur people on the ground.”
The U.N. special envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, faced a firm opposition during a tour in the tribal heartland of the region’s top rebel on December 8, 2007. Local Fur tribesmen told him they want security before talks blaming Khartoum for years of persecution.
The Fur have been among the main victims of the ongoing conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and chased 2,5 million from their homes — mostly civilians — since Darfur rebels took arms in 2003 against the central government.
The rebel leader stated that Khartoum should not believe that it can bring his movement to the table of negotiations through violence or international pressures.
He said “pressures would just reinforce our faith in the rightness of our cause.”
The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Aug. 31 calling for the deployment of 26,000 international peacekeepers to replace the 7,800 AU force in Darfur, which is suffering the lack of funds, equipment and experience.
Al-Nur further urged the international community to hold Khartoum accountable for the failure of Abuja talks and for the current delay in the African Union – United Nations sponsored mediation.
He added that rebel demands since Abuja are simple and realizable.
He underscored that Darfur was one region in the past and the interdependence between the current three states makes the establishment of one region suitable for peace, development and stability.
With regards to the individual compensation, he told Sudan Tribune “How we can ask these people to go back to their village without a modest amount of money to start their live and cultivate their land.”
In this regard, he underlined that Khartoum should not fix in advance the amount of the money dedicated to compensate the villagers but it should be defined according to the number of victims.
Since two weeks ago, Sudan has said ended preparations and fulfilled commitments to receive the African Union – UN peacekeeping for Darfur planed to take over from the AU troops deployed in the troubled western Sudan.
But the government has refused some essential non-African components of the force and wants to impose restrictions on the mission, including disabling its communications during security operations.
Last November, Jean-Marie Guehenno, UN peacekeeping head, has warned the world could face a choice between delaying the takeover form African force or starting the deployment with an ill-equipped force that may not be able to protect its own peacekeepers, let alone civilians. He urged Sudan to relax its opposition to non-African troops.
However Sudanese president Omer al-Beshir told the conference of the National Congress Part on November 24 .”These Swedish and Norwegian troops are not acceptable. We shall not accept them.” Speaking about a proposed Thai infantry battalion, Bashir added: “Even if there is a shortage of troops from the African continent, we are not going to accept those people. Because we were not consulted about it.”
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in 2003, accusing central government in Khartoum of neglect.
(ST)