Sudan denies accepting Thai and Nepalese troops in Darfur force

May 24, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government denied press reports that it has gave the green light to non-African units as part of the United Nations-African Union hybrid force (UNAMID) in Darfur.

The daily Al-Ahdath has quoted unidentified government officials as saying that Khartoum may take a decision to approve Thai and Nepalese forces in Darfur by year end.

The officials said that the issue was discussed as part of the negotiations on normalizing ties with the US.

The US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson met with in Rome last April with a Sudanese delegation headed by Sudan Nafi and included Sudan’s spy chief Salah Gosh as well as foreign minister Deng Alor.

The New York Times (NYT) obtained a series of documents exchanged between Washington and Khartoum on a series of steps to normalize relations between the two countries. The documents were leaked by an unidentified US official described as being “critical of the administration’s position”.

The report said that the Bush administration could remove Sudan from an American list of state supporters of terrorism and normalize relations if the Sudanese government agreed, among other steps, to allow Thai and Nepalese peacekeepers as part of the peacekeeping force.

But the spokesman of the Sudanese foreign ministry Ali Al-Sadek denied any acceptance of non-African forces and said that the discussions with the US was in regards to technical units.

Al-Sadek also said that Sudan has facilitated the deployment of UNAMID and refused any allegations of obstructing the process.

The Sudanese diplomat also slammed the international community “slowness in pushing for political solution in Darfur which forms the root of the problem”.

UN Security Council adopted resolution 1769 on July 31st which authorized a hybrid UN-AU force (UNAMID) consisting of 26,000 troops and police but so far it only has only 9,000 personnel.

However the deployment was impeded by Khartoum’s objections to the composition of the force and lack of helicopters. The UN has for months been seeking 6 attack and 18 transport helicopters to support the force with no success.

International experts also say more than 300,000 were killed and 2 million have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, a region that is roughly the size of France.

(ST)