USA: UN official says Sudan actions cast doubt on peace force

U.N. chief of peacekeeping in Sudan says Khartoum's bureaucratic stalling is jeopardising an effective and timely deployment of the "hybrid" peacekeeping force in Darfur. A series of obstacles raised by Sudan is putting in doubt the planned deployment of a peacekeeping force for Darfur, the United Nations peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday (November 27). Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council Khartoum's reluctance to smooth the path for dispatching the 26,000-strong U.N.-African Union mission meant a decision might eventually have to be taken on whether to go through with the deployment. Problems detailed by Guehenno included Sudan's objections to some non-African units, failure to provide land, curbs on helicopter flights and quest for a status of forces pact that he said "would make it impossible for the mission to operate." Those actions cast doubt on Sudan's past promises to facilitate the deployment of the "hybrid" force in the war-torn region, he said. "Over the past few weeks, the government's reluctance to facilitate the practical preparations for UNAMID, as well as the public statements made by senior officials, call into question that commitment. The government of Sudan has an important responsibility to positively influence the public's attitudes towards UNAMID and the United Nations," Guehenno said. The peacekeepers are supposed to take over from an existing AU force in Darfur from January and bring security to its people after more than 4-1/2 years of fighting between rebels and government forces. But Khartoum has not agreed to a Thai infantry battalion, a Nepalese special forces unit and a Nordic engineering unit that the U.N. considers vital. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said last week he would not accept non-African troops apart from Chinese and Pakistani units already committed. The status of forces agreement Sudan wanted would allow it to temporarily disable the force's communications network in case of security operations by Khartoum and require UNAMID to give it advance notice of all movements, he said. Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem told the Security Council that discussions on the composition of UNAMID should take place in three-way talks between Sudan, the United Nations and the AU, and not in the council. Following the meeting, Abdalhaleem spoke with journalists and said Sudan had done all it can towards deployment of troops, adding that his government is being disrespected. "We fulfilled all our commitments. Now they are saying Sudan is doing that, Sudan should do this. And this is a language of a bygone era. They should not think of Sudan as being, or treat Sudan in this language, like Sudan should and Sudan must," he said. Jean-Marie Guehenno reiterated his statements made to the Security Council. "We see a situation that eventually, no government will be in a position to control. Is that for a government that stresses, and we respect that, stresses the need to assert its sovereignty? Is that really how it is going to be asserted in Darfur in the long-term? No," he said. U.N. special envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson, a mediator at peace talks that began in Libya last month between Khartoum and some Darfur rebel groups but made little headway, said both sides should be given time to prepare for another round.

ITN Source | November 28, 2007

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