Sudan has expressed readiness to discuss the deployment of additional African Union monitors in Darfur in response to calls by the United Nations for an increased international presence in the troubled western region, reports said on Friday.
However, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, quoted by the independent al-Rai al-Aam daily, repeated his country’s opposition to the deployment in Darfur of foreign peacekeepers with a broader mandate than AU observers monitoring ceasefire violations.
Ismail said the government will ”cooperate positively in discussing an increase in the number of AU-led observers in order to help build confidence, maintain security and respect for the law and help achieve peace”.
The minister also said his government is ”fully prepared to cooperate with the AU, Arab League and the international community to achieve security in Darfur, address the humanitarian situation and reach a comprehensive political settlement”.
He was responding to a report presented to the UN Security Council by Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special representative to Sudan, Jan Pronk, on the extent of Sudan’s compliance with the council’s resolution on the crisis in Darfur 30 days after it was passed.
In his report, Pronk had urged the Sudanese government to allow international troops help end attacks in Darfur, where 18 months of conflict has left upwards of 30 000 people dead, according to the UN.
”We urge the government, if it is unable to fully protect its citizens by itself, to seek, request and accept assistance from the international community,” Pronk said, calling for ”an expanded AU mission in Darfur”.
Annan said on Wednesday that an increased international presence is needed in Darfur because Sudan has failed to stop attacks on civilians since it was set a 30-day deadline from July 30 to take action against marauding militias, led by the notorious Janjaweed.
The AU Ceasefire Commission currently has 133 observers on the ground monitoring a ceasefire between government forces and rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement.
The AU has also deployed a force of 300 troops from Rwanda and Nigeria to protect the monitors.
But Sudan has resisted international calls to transform the protection force into a fully-fledged peacekeeping force, arguing that its security forces are capable of policing the region and restoring stability.
Pronk admitted ”it is the responsibility of the government to protect its people against attacks and violations of human rights”, but stressed that broader ”monitoring mandate” with ”many more monitors” will help.
Sudanese Interior Minister Abul Rahim Mohammed Hussein announced on Thursday that the government was deploying additional numbers of police and equipment to the troubled region of Darfur, the official Sudan News Agency reported.
Hussein, also President Omar el-Bashir’s representative to Darfur, did not give a number for the troops being dispatched, but said it brought to 2 600 the number of police officers deployed in the region in recent days.
International humanitarian aid officials say internally displaced persons have little faith in government forces, which they blame for some of the atrocities committed against them. The agencies argue an international presence will more reassuring. — Sapa-AFP