Sudan rules out UN force
2006-06-21 09:01
Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ruled out letting United Nations troops into the Darfur region, saying he would not permit such a deployment as long as he was in power, said reports.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday, was expected to keep up the pressure on Khartoum to approve a UN peacekeeping contingent in the western region, where African Union forces had failed to end the conflict.
Mbeki said: "President Bashir pledged himself to lead the resistance against any UN military intervention if it happened in Darfur.
"Sudan, the first country in Africa south of the Sahara to win independence, will not be the first country to be recolonised."
Govt, rebels sign agreement
Mbeki's delegation went straight from the airport to meetings with Bashir and vice-president Salva Kiir, a former southern rebel who took office under a peace deal last year.
The government had also signed a peace agreement with the main rebel faction in Darfur, but other groups had refused to join and the government had been resisting the parallel plan to convert the African force into a UN force.
The African Union's top diplomat, Alpha Oumar Konare, visited Darfur on Tuesday and said nothing could be done without the consent of the Sudanese government.
He said: "Nobody can impose anything on Sudan. This matter will be addressed in discussions to see how best the Abuja deal (on peace in Darfur) can be implemented."
10 000 people killed
SA's deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad said last week that Mbeki hoped to persuade Khartoum to accept the AU proposal to allow the UN to take over from the 7 000-member AU force, which had struggled to monitor a widely ignored truce in the vast region.
Tens of thousands of people had been killed in Darfur for the past three years and two million people had fled their homes.
Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson Jamal Ibrahim said the transfer to a UN force was not on the agenda for the talks with the SA leader.
Pahad said Mbeki's visit would also seek to strengthen implementation of the deal - struck 18 months ago - to end a 20-year civil war in southern Sudan.
In El Fasher, Konare told provincial governor Youssef Kibir that it was important to explain the May 05 peace deal to the people, many of whom were sceptical or hostile to the agreement.
He said: "Even though the conflict has been long, I still am optimistic that peace is at our door. The Abuja deal is a step forward and is a good compromise, acceptable to all those who want peace."