British embassy in Sudan denies Blair’s intention to send troops to Darfur

KHARTOUM, Dec 30, 2004 (MENA) — An official source at the British embassy in Khartoum dismissed Prime Minister Tony Blair’s intention to send troops to the states of Darfur in western Sudan with the aim of maintaining peace and security there.

In a statement today, the source said reports in a British newspaper about Blair’s plans to dispatch 3,000 soldiers to Darfur are totally bare of truth, noting there are no British plans to send troops to Darfur.

The source added that the African Union (AU) is shouldering the responsibility of observing the cease-fire agreement in the troubled region.

British newspaper, The Independent On Sunday 26 December had said Blair has ordered military chiefs to get ready to send British troops to intervene in Sudan in the New Year.

The paper had said that the premier waved aside concerns that the army is already too committed in Iraq and Afghanistan to make a significant contribution to a peace-keeping mission in Africa.

“When you decide to make an intervention you have got to be able to move fast,” The Independent had quoted a minister as saying.

Troops would be sent as part of the new European Union Rapid Reaction Force which Blair has said he wants to be operational “as soon as possible in 2005”.

He added during a visit to Ethiopia in October that Africa should be the “top priority” for the new force.

Any deployment to Africa would stretch the military to its limits. Britain already has more than 40,000 service personnel, around a fifth of its total, serving abroad