Sudan will not expel Darfur peacekeeping force – official

July 26, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese government today denied vigorously any trend to expel the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) from the troubled region.

Yesterday the Presidential Adviser, Bona Malwal, told reporters in the Ethiopian capital that Sudan is not responsible of the security of Darfur peacekeepers if President Omer al-Bashir is indicted by the international judges. He further added “After that we may ask them to withdraw from our territory.”

The undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday evening, Mutrif Sidiq, told al-Jazeera TV that Sudan has no intention to expel the peacekeeping mission from Darfur because they not involved in the ICC accusation of the Sudanese president.

He further said that they are mainly African and not international troops. Sudan “worked for long time to have these African troops. They are not U.N. forces,” he added.

The Sudanese official, who is in charge of the file of UNAMID, also reiterated the commitment of his government to protect the Hybrid Mission.

“The visit of the president Omer Hassan al-Bashir, to the UNAMID headquarters in Darfur State proves that the government appreciated the efforts being made by the peacekeeping forces and gave important indication that there were no trend to expel them” Sidiq said.

While he was touring Darfur on Wednesday 24 July, Omer al-Bashir visited the UNAMID headquarters and expressed his condolences over the death of seven peacekeepers that were killed in an ambush earlier this month in North Darfur. He also pledged to provide security to the peacekeepers.

The United Nations and African Union aim to have some 26,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, but only 9,000 are on the ground. However, Egyptian troops started to arrive in Darfur while Ethiopian peacekeepers are also expected in the coming days.

The Sudanese government is asking African Union, Arab Union and other regional organisations to block the indictment by the International Criminal Court of president al-Bashir through the U.N. Security Council which has the possibility to suspend the investigation and the prosecution against him.

In this regard, Khartoum intends to not hinder these efforts.

Different diplomats say Sudan has to cooperate with the international community in the deployment of the hybrid force, and the settlement of Darfur conflict before such move.

The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked pre-trial judges lon Monday 14 July to issue arrest warrants for Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.

Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.

(ST)