Sudan negotiator denies need for AU peacekeepers in Darfur
ABUJA, Aug 23 (AFP) — The head of Sudan’s delegation to African Union-sponsored talks on the conflict in the western province of Darfur said Monday there was no need for the AU to send peacekeeping force to the troubled region, insisting that Khartoum could handle the security situation.
Asked if Sudan will accept the proposed 2000-strong AU force, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa, who leads Khartoum’s delegation to the one-day talks, said: “I don’t think that is necessary.”
Sudan is attending the peace talks to begin a dialogue but “simultaneously we are going to disarm the rebel movement, the Janjaweed and other militias,” he told journalists.
Sudan’s position on the deployment of AU peacekeepers apprently differ from that of AU chairman, Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, who late Sunday here warned Sudan to move more quickly to disarm the feared Janjaweed militia and called for AU peacekeepers to be sent to Darfur.
Obasanjo on a live radio and television interview programme, issued a sterner than usual warning to Khartoum over its alleged failure to reign in the notorious Arab gunmen.
“The government’s argument is ‘If we disarm them before the rebels what will happen?’ But who is to disarm the rebels, those who armed the Janjaweed? This is where I believe that the effort of the AU will be necessary,” he said.
“And that is why, in the first instance, we took up our protection force, in addition to the observer team,” Obasanjo said.
Nigeria and Rwanda have made more than 2,000 soldiers available to transform a small African Union ceasefire monitoring team already in Darfur into a genuine peacekeeping force, but Sudan has not yet allowed them to deploy.
The Abuja one-day meeting, being hosted by Obasanjo, was scheduled to begin at 1100 local hours (1000 GMT).
Obasanjo, some AU officials and delegates from the rebel groups have arrived at the venue of the meeting here at 1100 local hours, an AFP correspondent at the venue reports.
African leaders hope that the talks will kickstart a dialogue between the rebels and Khartoum and pave the way for a 2,000-strong AU peacekeeping force to deploy to Darfur to protect ceasefire monitors and aid deliveries.
According to the United Nations, 1.4 million people have been driven from their homes in Darfur since the fighting started in February last year, while between 30,000 and 50,000 have been killed.