France says peacekeepers may be needed in Darfur

PARIS, Aug 13 (Reuters) – French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier urged the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels on Friday to respect a ceasefire and said a peacekeeping mission and more troops may be needed in the region.

Barnier said the world must prevent the turmoil in Darfur, which the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, becoming a clash between Islam and the West.

“Our main concern must be to guarantee regional stability and avoid a confrontation between Islam and the West that some clearly want to see,” Barnier wrote in an article published in the Financial Times newspaper.

“Pressure must be exerted on all the parties — the rebel movement as well as the Khartoum authorities — to ensure they respect the ceasefire negotiated in N’Djamena in April and take part in the negotiations launched on July 15 in Addis Ababa by the African Union,” he said.

France has sent about 200 troops to Chad to help refugees in the frontier region and watch for incursions by Arab militias.

Barnier appealed to Sudan’s government to disarm militias — accused by rebels of attacking, killing and raping black African villagers in Darfur in western Sudan — and said the rebels should return to the negotiating table.

“The African Union and the international community must put in place a suitable surveillance mechanism to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire,” Barnier said.

“This may lead to an increase in the number of troops to be deployed on the ground and a change in their mission from protection to peacekeeping.”

The 53-member African Union has said it wants to boost the number of troops to Darfur to 2,000 and broaden the original mandate of its force to including a peacekeeping role as well as protecting ceasefire observers.

Sudan has said it has no problem with African ceasefire observers, but that peacekeeping is its own responsibility.

The United Nations says 50,000 people have been killed and at least a million displaced since two rebel groups took up arms against the government in February. It has told Sudan to curb marauding Janjaweed militias or face sanctions.

Barnier said sanctions could not be an end in themselves.

“Rather, they are a means of maintaining pressure and of getting parties to take effective action. It is only by a climate of confidence that we can lessen tensions and pave the way for an agreement,” he said.