Ex-rebels concerned by composition of UN force in Sudan: officials

NAIROBI, Jan 21 (AFP) — Sudan’s former southern rebels have raised concerns about the composition of an up to 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in region, senior officials in the movement said.

SPLA troops line up during a public rally in Rumbek on January 10, 2005 to celebrate a final peace agreement with the Khartoum government that was signed in Kenya January 9. (AFP). .

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) is worried that the force may be dominated by troops from Muslim nations that supported the Khartoum’s Islamic government through the 21-year civil war that ended on January 9 with the signing of a peace accord, the officials said.

“The SPLM/A does not want countries that supported Khartoum, most of the Arab countries, to provide troops to the south,” one official said, naming Pakistan and Algeria as two nations to which the group would object.

Pakistan and Algeria are members of the UN Security Council and both voted against directly threatening Khartoum with sanctions last year over its support for Arab militias in the troubled western region of Sudan.

Other Arab and Muslim nations, such as Egypt, Malaysia, are said to be ready to contribute to the UN mission, but the official did not mention them by name.

“Other countries (we would oppose) are those that armed Khartoum during the war,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The peacekeeping operation, a main provision of the peace accord, is expected to be approved by the Security Council next month but the UN’s special envoy for Sudan has said Khartoum and the SPLA/M must agree on contributors.

Deng Aloor, a senior SPLA/M official in Nairobi, would not discuss specific countries which the group would oppose in the UN operation.

But he confirmed the group — made up mainly of Christians and animists — had serious concerns about the force, particularly as he said it had not yet been consulted on the matter by the United Nations.

“We have not been consulted on the countries to provide troops and that is our concern,” Aloor told AFP. “We want this issue to de discussed with the UN.

“Simply because the UN is funding the troops does not mean they will impose them on us,” he said.

Pronk said on Tuesday that he expected the Security Council would approve the peacekeeping mission in the second week of February. It was not immediately clear if the SPLA/M reservations might delay a vote on the matter.

The January 9 peace deal brought Africa’s longest civil conflict to a close, ending more than two decades of war that claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people.