The United States urged Sudan on Monday to accept United Nations troops as part of a hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur as the world body awaited word from the African Union (AU) on reports Khartoum had agreed to a joint deployment.
The Saudi state news agency reported on Sunday that Sudan had signed a deal with the United Nations and the AU on deployment of African and UN forces in Darfur, but gave few details. The United Nations said it had not yet received word.
United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a news conference a hybrid force made up of AU and UN troops was critical to the success of a Darfur peace deal signed by Khartoum and one rebel group in 2006.
But in apparent recognition of Khartoum’s long-standing opposition to admitting Western troops to the war-ravaged western region, Negroponte told reporters a hybrid force would be predominantly African, and would be led by an African.
”We must move quickly to a larger hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force with a single unified chain of command that conforms to UN standards and practices,” Negroponte said, speaking in the Sudanese capital.
”We also acknowledge and have agreed that the preponderance, the majority of these forces, will be recruited from African countries and the commander of this United Nations-African Union force will also be from Africa,” Negroponte said.
But he said Sudan’s record on humanitarian access to Darfur was ”not encouraging” and urged Khartoum to disarm militias.
”The government of Sudan must disarm the Janjaweed, the Arab militias that we all know could not exist without the Sudanese government’s active support,” he said.
”When it comes to humanitarian access the government of Sudan’s record is not encouraging. The denial of visas, the harassment of aid workers and other measures have created the impression that the government is engaged in a deliberate campaign of intimidation.”
UN awaits word on possible deal
Khartoum has repeatedly rejected calls for a hybrid force involving more than 20 000 UN troops and police. Foreign Minister Lam Akol said on Sunday Khartoum would accept as many African troops as needed to stabilise Darfur but Khartoum would not bow to international pressure to accept a UN force there.
The official Saudi Press Agency reported Sudan had reached a deal with the AU and the United Nations for African and UN deployment, but it was not clear if this was an agreement to implement phase two of a three-phase plan for Darfur or approval of a larger force.
Phase two, or the so-called heavy support interim package, calls for the deployment of 3 000 UN military personnel and equipment to support the 7 000 strong AU force.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Riyadh in late March, at which time Sudan agreed to the interim package — except for six attack helicopters the United Nations said it needed to protect the troops. Akol said on Sunday Khartoum was now inclined to allow the helicopters.
Top African Union officials are expected to arrive in New York on Monday, and the United Nations hopes they will deliver Sudan’s answer. Experts say about 200 000 people have been killed and 2,5-million displaced since the conflict flared in Darfur in 2003. – Reuters