French soldiers in Chad begin relief work for Sudan’s Darfur
NDJAMENA, July 31 (AFP) — French soldiers stationed in Chad began airlifting aid to the border with Sudan’s Darfur region Saturday, as Sudan reluctantly agreed to accept a UN Security Council resolution threatening international action unless atrocities in Darfur are halted within 30 days.
After President Jacques Chirac ordered a mobilization to help the 1.2 million people driven from their homes by Sudanese troops and Arab militia known as Janjaweed, French forces in Chad began flying relief supplies to the border town of Abeche and prepared to send 200 troops to secure Chad’s eastern frontier with Darfur, according to army colonel Philippe Charles.
However the French action stopped short of entering Sudanese territory where the government has warned it would send its army to repel any foreign military intervention.
Amid concern that the escalating crisis could turn Sudan into a new breeding ground for terrorism and instability, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sent a message Saturday to his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Beshir, urging him to bring the Janjaweed militias under control.
The Security Council passed a resolution Friday giving Sudan 30 days to rein in the militias, and threatened unspecified international action, without specifically using the word sanctions.
The Sudanese ambassador to the African Union, Osman Elsayed Fad Elsayed said Saturday that “unlike Israel, which dumps UN resolutions,” his government accepted the Security Council measure, albeit “with regret.”
“Indeed,” he added, “we are going to do all we can to end the crisis by disarming the militias and all illegal armed men and women in the area.”
Elsayed said the government had already sent 6,000 police into Darfur to ensure security and support the government force stationed there.
“The government has allowed an unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid and is closely working with the African Union observers as well as welcoming the protection force from Nigeria and Rwanda,” he said.
The ambassador was referring to the planned deployment of observers from the African Union to be protected by Nigerian and Rwandan troops.
Earlier, Sudan rejected the resolution, calling for more time to implement existing promises to disarm the militia, and insisting sanctions would only aggravate the situation in Darfur.
The government promised UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 3 it would disarm the Janjaweed and allow humanitarian aid to be delivered.
The UN says the Darfur crisis, in which it says up to 50,000 people have been slaughtered, is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
It began with an anti-government revolt by two local groups of insurgents that was brutally suppressed by Sudanese troops and their militia allies, with the civilian population caught in the middle.
The French military operation began when a Hercules C-130 flew 12 tonnes of supplies to Abeche, destined for people in nine refugee camps, according to the spokesman Colonel Charles.
He said the action was “in the framework of strengthening logistical aid to UN agencies.”
Charles added that about 200 French soldiers will deploy Sunday to Chad’s eastern border to deter incursions by the Janjaweed. Some 200,000 Sudanese have fled the fighting in Darfur to Chad, where their security is also precarious. President Idriss Deby of Chad has accused Sudan of fomenting militia forces in his country.
Asked what French troops had been ordered to do if the Janjaweed crossed the border, the French ambassador to Chad, Jean Pierre Bercot, said “our capacity to react will be jointly decided with our Chadian partners.”
“With our presence on the ground, we want to show that we will be there to attest to any incursions by the Janjaweed before the eyes of all the world,” the ambassador said.
He said French military aircraft would carry out flights “according to need” in coming days between Ndjamena and Abeche, which lies about 700 kilometres (435 miles) east of the capital.