Khartoum says will double security forces in Darfur

Khartoum/Nairobi (dpa) – Sudan’s government has said it will double the number of security forces in Darfur to 12,000 over the next four months, reports said Tuesday.

The news came after a meeting between U.N. special envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, and senior Sudanese officials.

The U.N. Security Council last week gave Khartoum 30 days to disarm the Janjaweed militia accused of killing civilians, burning and looting villages in Darfur.

Pronk said after the meeting the security situation in the camps for displaced people in Darfur had improved, although militias were still active in the area, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The Sudanese government said over the weekend 30 days was too short.

On Monday, the Sudanese army said it viewed the Security Council resolution on Darfur as a “declaration of war” against Sudan.

“The U.N. resolution is a decision to go to war and has no moral or humanitarian value. We maintain our right to respond in case of foreign military intervention, and we will not welcome invaders with flowers and flags,” General Mohamed Bashir Suleiman told the pro-government al-Anbaa newspaper.

“Far from a declaration of war, it calls upon the government of Sudan to fulfill commitments it made,” said U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said later Monday.

The resolution allows the council to apply Article 41 of the U.N. Charter, which offers measures such as economic sanctions and severance of diplomatic relations with governments that do not comply with U.N. demands. But Article 41 rules out military intervention.

Western estimates are that 200,000 refugees have fled across the Sudanese border into eastern Chad, while more than 1 million people are displaced within Sudan due to the violence.

The U.S. aid agency USAID said up to 80,000 people may have died since the conflict started early 2003.