AU 'must accept deal or else...'
2006-09-05 11:14
Khartoum - Sudan gave African Union troops a one-week ultimatum to accept a deal that would block a proposed United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur or else leave the war-torn region, a step that would likely worsen the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
The deadline, announced on Monday, escalated Khartoum's standoff with the UN over Darfur to a key crisis point, pitting Khartoum's determination to resist possible war crimes investigations against the UN's appetite for a new, rough peacekeeping mission.
Many observers believed Sudan had dug in against a UN deployment in the vast western region because it feared the force would hunt down officials and government allies suspected of war crimes for atrocities against Darfur's ethnic Africans.
At the same time, the United States and Europe had stepped up their demands that Sudan let in the UN troops, which still must be assembled.
'We need a stronger force'
Sweden and Norway underlined on Monday that they were prepared to contribute to a Darfur intervention.
European Union spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj Tardio warned of dire consequences if the AU was forced to pull out before a UN force could take over.
Tardio said: "There would be a very difficult scenario. We need a stronger force on the ground to ensure security. It is crucial to reach an agreement with the Sudanese before that deadline."
The removal of the 7 000 AU peacekeepers in Darfur would raise the prospect of a new upsurge of fighting in the region, where at least 200 000 had been killed and 2.5 million people displaced since 2003.
Khartoum had already launched a major new offensive in Darfur, reportedly involving thousands of troops and militias backed by bomber aircraft.
Sudan 'rejects the resolution'
The AU force, which was underfunded and staffed, had struggled to keep stability amid an upsurge of violence in recent months. The UN wanted to deploy a beefed up force of 20 000 troops with a stronger mandate to stop the fighting.
The African peacekeepers' mandate ran out on September 30, and last week, the security council passed a resolution that would put the AU force under UN authority, pending Khartoum's consent. Sudan promptly rejected the resolution.
On Monday, Sudan went a step further. Foreign minister Ali Ahmed Kerti said the AU force could only remain in the country if they accepted Arab League and Sudanese funding.
A government statement said that he gave the AU a week to respond to its offer or get its troops out of the country.
According to Nigerian ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, Kerti said he made the offer at a meeting he called Monday with the AU representative in Khartoum.
Kerti insisted that Sudan was not trying to get rid of the peacekeepers, saying it "has always advocated the presence of the African force in Darfur". He said the Arab League had offered to help fund the force after the mandate ended.
- AP