KHARTOUM, Sudan - The Sudanese government has agreed to UN involvement in a
peacekeeping operation in its troubled Darfur region, the Foreign Ministry said
Friday, in what appeared to be a scaled back version of the mission originally
requested by the UN.
UN secretary general's special envoy to Sudan Ahmedou Ould
Abdallah, left, meets Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, right, to
discuss the Darfur crisis, in al-Bashir's office in Khartoum, Thursday
Dec. 21, 2006. [AP]
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Spokesman Sadeq al-Magli said
his government would accept deployment of a "hybrid" peacekeeping operation of
African Union and UN troops.
He didn't specify how many troops would be accepted but said the bulk of the
force would come from African Union countries, with the UN mainly providing
technical assistance, consultants and military and police experts. He added that
the force would be commanded by the African Union.
The comment reflected his government's long standing opposition to the
deployment of 20,000 UN troops in Darfur, as proposed by the UN Security
Council.
In deference to Khartoum's opposition, the UN scaled back its plans to
replace the current AU force of 7,000 troops in Darfur with the much bigger UN
operation. Since early November, has been pushing to reinforce the existing
peacekeepers with smaller numbers of UN personnel as well as technical and
financial assistance.
Some Sudanese officials in recent weeks had expressed approval for a UN force
but others had raised questions, leaving it unclear if Friday's announcement
would undergo further changes.
The violence in Darfur began in February 2003 when rebels from African tribes
took up arms, complaining of discrimination and oppression by the Arab-dominated
government. The government is accused of unleashing an Arab militia, the
janjaweed, against the ethnic African community in a campaign of murder, rape
and arson.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the
fighting, which has escalated since the May accord.
The government denies backing the janjaweed, but UN and A.U. officials have
accused Khartoum of arming the militia and coordinating regular army attacks
with it.
Earlier Friday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he believed the Sudan
government had also agreed to make renewed efforts to enforce a cease-fire and
negotiate peace with those Darfur rebels who rejected the peace agreement of
May. Annan said he had heard that President Omar al-Bashir would approve "a full
cease-fire, a renewed effort to bring all parties into (the) political process,
and deployment of the proposed African Union- United Nations hybrid force."
Al-Magli said his government had not yet seen Annan's statement, but it was
true that "Sudan has confirmed to the (UN) envoy that it would sit down for
peace talks with the rebel factions any time, any where."
"In fact, a government delegation went to Asmara, Eritrea, on Thursday to
look into the possibility of talking to those groups that did not sign the Abuja
peace agreement," al-Magli said, referring to the May accord between the
government and one Darfur rebel group.
The world "should pressurize the other factions which are attacking the
government, humanitarian and civilian communities, to come to cease-fire talks
and to stop attacking. But for us in the government, yes, we have confirmed our
commitment to the ceasefire," al-Magli said.