Sudan rejects U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sep 3, 2004 (UPI) — Sudan’s foreign minister says the government will not accept U.N. peacekeepers in the Darfur region, the BBC reports.
About 50,000 people have been killed in the area in the past 18 months and 1 million have become refugees, most of them driven from their homes by the Arab militias.
U.N. Envoy Jan Pronk told the government he does not believe that 3,000 soldiers supplied by the African Union will be a large enough force to restore security in Darfur.
“First, it has not been able to stop attacks by militias, nor to disarm these militias,” Pronk said. “Second, no concrete steps have been taken to bring to justice or even to identify any of the militia’s leaders or the perpetrators of these attacks.”
John Danforth, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, argues that the Sudanese government continues to work with the Janjaweek militia and says refugees will not trust a government that is tied to the atrocities.
Sudan blames armed rebels for the bloodshed in Darfur.