Sudanese army rejects UK officer in Darfur force
February 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s army rejected the appointment of a British officer to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur on Thursday in a move that could strain relations with the U.N. and the UK, a major donor.
A spokesman said Sudan’s Armed Forces would not accept Brigadier Patrick Davidson-Houston as chief of staff to the force commander of the U.N./African Union mission in Darfur.
“The force is African, so how can the chief of staff be British? None of the forces are British,” he told Reuters.
It was unclear how far the army’s refusal was in line with the final stance of Sudan’s government, but the armed forces are a substantial force in Sudanese politics and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir comes from a military background.
A spokesman from the international force, UNAMID, said officials were still hoping to get the appointment accepted.
“At the moment we are aware that concerns have been raised by the government,” he said. “We are working to resolve these.”
A final rejection by Sudan would be seen as a major snub to the UK, which has sent several high-level delegations to Sudan in recent months and gave 84 million pounds in humanitarian aid in 2006-7.
Omar Daair, spokesman for the British Embassy in Khartoum, said the officer had already been in the post for a number of months and had been selected for the job “openly and fairly”.
“His employment and continued employment is a matter for UNAMID,” he added. Brigadier Davidson-Houston, who served as the commander of British Forces in Sierra Leone from 2002-3, was unavailable for comment.
EUROPEAN LINK
Sudan’s armed forces spokesman said the full reasons for the rejection had been spelled out by Sudan’s Major General Majdhub Rahama at a conference on Wednesday.
Sudanese daily Al-Sahafah on Thursday reported Rahama as saying a British chief of staff would provide an unwelcome “link” between UNAMID and European peacekeepers due to start work in neighbouring Chad.
Another reason was that the UK had no peacekeepers on the ground in Darfur, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported. Khartoum has been increasingly sensitive about the involvement of non-African troops in the 26,000-strong peacekeeping force.
In November, Bashir said he would only accept Chinese and Pakistani technical units already committed, and he specifically rejected an offer of 400 army engineers from Sweden and Norway.
Many analysts have accused Khartoum of using the nationality of incoming UNAMID peacekeepers as an excuse to stall on the full implementation of the force. So far, only 9,000 peacekeepers have been deployed.
Khartoum has strongly denied the accusation and pointed to the delay caused by the failure of other countries to supply UNAMID with helicopters and other vital equipment.
The force is supposed to bring peace to the western region, in which international experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in fighting since early 2003, when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms, accusing the government of neglect. Khartoum disputes the figures.
(Reuters)