Sudan rejects further AU help
2004-08-24 08:53
Abuja - A senior Sudanese official on Monday rejected any immediate wider role for African Union troops in troubled Darfur, as Sudanese and rebel officials opened peace talks under heavy international pressure to find a solution to the crisis in the western region.
Sudan's Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad dismissed a proposal floated by the AU to send nearly 2 000 peacekeepers to Darfur, where a pro-government mostly Arab militia are accused of killing tens of thousands of black Africans and pushing more than 1.2m from their homes.
"Nobody agreed about that. There was an agreement about a force to protect (AU) observers," al-Khalifa Ahmad said. "The security role is the role of the government of Sudan and its security forces."
He said, however, Sudan might consider an expanded AU role at a later date. "If there's a need, it will be discussed."
His comments appeared to be a setback for the international community's hopes that the AU could devise an African solution to the 18-month-old conflict that the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis and others say amounts to genocide.
Britain ready to finance AU
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Monday that his government was ready to help finance a greatly enlarged AU force for Darfur.
"The government of Sudan may need more assistance from the AU, and it's our job to facilitate it," Straw said on a flight to Sudan where he was to meet with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir before visiting a relief camp in Darfur during a two-day visit.
Later on Monday, after hour-long talks with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, Straw said he was pleased with the progress Khartoum had made in insuring access for humanitarian groups to Darfur by planning to grant visas to the British branches of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Ismail said Straw's visit came at "a critical time in our history".
"Sudan is ready to work with the international community to make the situation in Dafur as normal as possible," Ismail said, but he urged donors to fulfil their pledges of aid to help Sudan through its current rainy season.
"What we need is the international community to come up with its obligations so there will be no famine in Darfur."
He insisted his government had made progress in tackling the humanitarian crisis and improving security for the refugees.
More than 150 AU troops from Rwanda are in Darfur protecting some 80 union monitors observing a largely ignored cease-fire, and another 150 soldiers from Nigeria are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Operating under a 'vague' mandate
The troops are operating under a vague mandate that does not spell out how far they can go to protect targeted civilians.
Rwandan officials have said the troops would protect civilians, and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current AU chairperson, offered on Sunday to have the soldiers help disarm rebels while the government rein in the militia.
Going into Monday's talks, rebel delegates representing the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement accused the government of failing to provide security and failing to deliver on its promises to disarm the Janjaweed.
"The government is yet to put a stop to the activities of the Janjaweed, who are still killing people and attacking people," said Tacudi Bashi Nyan, a top Justice and Equality Movement delegate. "There is no security in the area. If these things are corrected, then we can have a good atmosphere for the talks. So a lot depends on circumstance."
The UN, the US and others accuse Sudan's government of backing pro-government Janjaweed militia in a violent ethnic-cleansing campaign of killing, rape and razing communities.
The 15-nation Security Council is due to consider what action to take at the end of August, with options ranging from extending the deadline for another 30 days to imposing punitive measures. Straw's aides said most council members oppose heavy sanctions.
Aid groups and both houses of US Congress have declared the crisis in Sudan "genocide."
- AP