Konare due in Khartoum as Sudan rejects AU peacekeeping force
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Aug 09, 2004 (PANA) — African Union (AU) Commission
chairperson Alpha Omar Konare is due here Monday for talks on the
crisis in Darfur, after the Sudanese government ruled out the
need for an African peacekeeping force in the troubled area.
According to the Sudanese news Agency (SUNA), debriefings were
underway between President Omar Hassan el Bashir and diplomatic
aides in view of talks planned for 23 August between the
belligerents in the conflict in Darfur.
The first round of political talks last month between the
government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and
Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) collapsed after the rebels set
six conditions any dialogue with Khartoum.
Nigerian President and AU chairman Olusegun Obasanjo was in
consultations last week with Konare and the warring Sudanese
parties to fix the venue and date of the next round of talks.
However, Khartoum has officially notified the AU of its
opposition to the idea of an African peacekeeping force in
Darfur. The government also rejected suggestions to increase the
number of AU ceasefire monitors in Darfur, saying security in the
area was the responsibility of the Sudanese Army.
The Sudanese government said a team of about 100 AU cease-fire
monitors was enough to ensure stability.
Observers found Khartoum’s stance at odds with view expressed
late last week by Obasanjo, who said he was trying to get a
larger African peacekeeping force into western Sudan, as well as
more international aid.
“With what we have on the ground now, it appears we must have an
additional force of protection,” Obasanjo had declared, adding
“we are calling on the international community to help in the
area of humanitarian supplies for Darfur.”
Last week, the UN Security Council served Khartoum 30 days notice
to disarm the Arab Janjaweed militias, who are accused of
uprooting more than a million African villagers, now living in
precarious conditions in camps.
But Sudanese authorities say they need more time to disarm the
militias, a view shared by the Arab League, which has rejected
any form of military intervention in Darfur.
At their Cairo meeting, Foreign ministers of the bloc declared
that the Arab League was “prepared to take part in any mediation
under the aegis of the AU, between the Sudanese government and
the Darfur rebels.”