Sudan would pull troops out of Darfur if Britain sent forces: minister

PARIS, July 22 (AFP) — Sudan would withdraw government troops from its violence-wracked Darfur region if Britain sends forces in, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said Thursday during a visit to Paris.

Asked about a press report in Britain that Prime Minister Tony Blair had ordered plans be made for a possible deployment of British soldiers to Darfur, Ismail said: “If he is to send troops to Darfur, let him inform us officially and what we will do is withdraw our troops from Darfur.”

Ismail added that, if such a development occurred, “we will give him the chance if he can give security to Darfur.”

In London, however, Blair denied Thursday’s report in the Guardian daily, calling it “premature”.

“Now we rule nothing out, but we’re not at the stage yet (of sending troops) … because we have a strategy that we implement now,” Blair said, although he added that Western nations had a “moral responsibility” to take action.

More than a year of fighting in Sudan’s western Darfur region has killed some 10,000 people and left more than a million homeless.

The violence started when rebel groups rose up in February 2003, prompting a brutal crackdown by Sudanese forces and affiliated Arab militias.

UN officials say the latter, known as Janjaweed militias, have carried out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans. Rights groups have spoken of systematic rape being inflicted.

Ismail on Wednesday had talks with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who announced that he would on July 27 visit the region near al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, as part of an African trip.

Britain, France, the United States and other countries have demanded that Khartoum disarm the militias and allow humanitarian aid to reach the displaced populations.

Initial peace talks have foundered and no improvement in the situation has yet been seen.

The Guardian report quoted an unnamed British government official as saying Blair had asked for all possible options for action in Sudan to be studied, including preparing for a troop deployment.

The Sudanese foreign minister warned that if Britain sent soldiers to the region, “in one or two months these forces are going to be considered by people of Darfur as occupying forces and the same incidents you are now facing in Iraq are going to be repeated in Darfur.”

Ismail also said that “more than 60 percent” of the population in Darfur were against the rebels and that the Khartoum government was doing its best to disarm the militias.