The continued threat of sanctions against Sudan will only hamper progress towards deploying a hybrid African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur, the government said on Thursday.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told a news conference that sanction threats against Khartoum over delays in allowing the force were ”surprising” and unhelpful.
”It is surprising to hear strident calls for sanctions against Sudan. We believe the threat of sanctions will create obstacles to making progress on Darfur,” Pahad said.
”We believe as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that there are positive developments on Darfur and we must build on these,” said Pahad.
The Sudanese government had previously endorsed only logistical support from the UN for the existing 7 000-strong AU force, which has struggled to patrol a region the size of France.
But South Africa’s ambassador to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, announced after talks with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir last weekend that Khartoum had raised no objections to the deployment of a beefed-up force, which would include UN troops as well as the Africans.
However, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said on Monday in Pretoria that the threat of sanctions against Sudan would only be lifted when Khartoum makes good on its pledge to allow the force into Darfur.
Previous promises from Bashir had come to nothing and only actions, not words, would suffice, said Frazer, who is the top US diplomat for Africa.
Pahad said the South African government was considering how it could accommodate calls to contribute more troops to Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur where, according to UN figures, more than 200 000 people have died and more than two million been displaced in the past four years.
Khartoum has always disputed those figures as exaggerated.
The minister expressed the hope that African nations would be able to provide the 17 000 peacekeepers requested by the UN Security Council.
Pahad said South Africa was consulting with the AU and the UN about supplying more troops to the African Mission in Sudan.
”In principle we will see how we can best contribute to the hybrid force. There is a general feeling that Africa can supply the troop contingency required for Darfur,” said Pahad.
”If not, there should be no objection to using troops from Latin America and Asia,” he said. — AFP
