Sudan Accepts UN force to Darfur - Pronto now so fast

[Somali_Friend]

UN upbeat on Darfur force but Sudan has conditions

 

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Minutes after U.N.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Sudan's acceptance of a

mixed African Union-U.N. force in turbulent Darfur, Khartoum's

U.N. ambassador on Wednesday mapped out a different scenario.

 

Annan briefed the Security Council on a letter from

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in which Khartoum

endorsed a three-step U.N. proposal to gradually strengthen the

understaffed African Union force of 7,000.

 

The third step is a hybrid African Union-United Nations

force. Although the council had authorized up to 22,500 troops

and police, Annan said the numbers would be worked out by an

AU-UN technical team.

 

"The president has accepted the three-phased approach as a

package, and we will have to move ahead and implement it, push

it, and -- even those who have some doubts -- to test it and

push it very quickly," said Annan, who ends 10 years in office

on Sunday.

 

But Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleen, said

that while Khartoum accepted the concept of a "hybrid" force,

"we are not talking about any joint force by the United Nations

and the African Union."

 

He said the United Nations should finance the African

troops and provide "backstopping" such as engineers,

communications and logistical personnel.

 

Abdalhaleen said "the idea" of 20,000 foreign troops had

been dropped and the size of the force was being reassessed.

 

Furthermore, he said that Khartoum saw no need for

thousands of extra troops since its own army and the 7,000

African Union soldiers provided enough security in Darfur,

where at least 200,000 people have died, violence is increasing

and Sudan has been accused of firing on civilians in villages.

 

Whether the United Nations and Sudan are using different

terminology to describe the same situation remains unclear.

 

U.N. plans have focused on African troops on the ground,

augmented by soldiers from other regions, like Asia, if enough

cannot be recruited. But Westerners would be in command centers

and in the air.

 

"This is a challenge for the Sudanese government to prove

to the international community that it means business, that it

stands by the letter that it has written to me," Annan said.

"So we are going to press ahead. And I hope this time there

will not be disappointments."

 

Annan said that the question of the color helmets -- green

for the African Union, blue for the United Nations -- had also

been resolved. U.N. troops can wear blue with an armband from

the African Union, which will name the commander.

 

U.S. SKEPTICAL

 

Several diplomats also were skeptical. The acting U.S.

ambassador, Alejandro Wolff told reporters," The proof of this

will be action on the ground and whether or not we will

actually see a force that can take its place in Darfur to

address the humanitarian crisis there and help deal with the

fighting."

 

But Wolff said that, "If this letter and the commitments

laid out in the letter by the president result in the

deployment of the long-awaited hybrid force of the United

Nations and the African Union -- then indeed it will be a

welcome development."

 

Non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003,

accusing the central government of marginalizing the remote

western region on the border with Chad. To quell the revolt,

Khartoum armed militia, who embarked on a campaign of rape,

murder and pillage. Some 2.5 million people have been uprooted

and are now terrorized by rebel factions also.

[Somali_Friend]

Sudan's president says he accepts U.N. package for Darfur and is ready for urgent discussions on ceasefire

 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Sudan's president said he accepts a U.N. package to help end escalating violence in Darfur and is ready for urgent discussions on a ceasefire, according to a letter circulated Tuesday.

 

President Omar al-Bashir said in the letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Sudan is ready "to start immediately" to implement two recent agreements that endorsed the three-step U.N. plan to beef up the beleaguered 7,000-strong African Union force on the ground in the vast conflict-wracked western region.

 

Council diplomats said the letter sounded promising, but cautioned that al-Bashir remains opposed to any large-scale U.N. deployment and has back-tracked on agreements regarding Darfur in the past. The letter also leaves the size and command of a hybrid African Union-United Nations force that would be deployed as the third step unresolved.

 

Al-Bashir rejected a Security Council resolution adopted in August that called for more than 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers to replace the overwhelmed AU force in Darfur, and had opposed deployment of U.N. troops in a hybrid force. He claims a U.N. force would compromise Sudan's sovereignty and try to recolonize the country.

 

In the letter to Annan, al-Bashir dropped his opposition to the hybrid force.

 

He said the conclusions of a Nov. 16 meeting of key Sudanese and international diplomats in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the Nov. 30 summit of the African Union's Peace and Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, which endorsed the three-step U.N. plan, "constitute a viable framework for peaceful settlement to the conflict in Darfur."

 

Al-Bashir said Sudan agrees that implementation of the first two phases of the U.N. support package for Darfur should start "as scheduled."

 

The first phase would add 105 military officers, 33 U.N. police, 48 international staffers, 36 armored personnel carriers, night-vision goggles, and Global Positioning equipment to the African Union force, according to a U.N. report last month.

 

A second, larger support package would include the deployment of several hundred U.N. military, police and civilian personnel to the African Union mission along with substantial aviation and logistical assets.

 

"The government will render all required assistance to facilitate the successful completion of these phases," al-Bashir said.

 

Under the heading "Finalization of Plans for the Hybrid Operation," al-Bashir said the size of the AU-U.N. force should be determined by both organizations as stipulated in the Abuja communique, "taking into account all relevant factors and the situation on the ground as well as the requirements for it to effectively discharge its mandate."

 

Al-Bashir's letter was a response to several phone calls with Annan and a letter from the secretary-general delivered by a personal envoy.

 

Annan said the Sudanese leader's support was essential if the United Nations is to fund and strengthen the African Union force. He also said a cease-fire in Darfur is "imperative" because of the significant increase in violence in the war-torn region over the last few weeks, including an upsurge in attacks on civilians by militias.

 

To achieve a cease-fire, Annan said, efforts to get all rebel groups and militias to join the Darfur Peace Agreement, which the government and one rebel group signed on May 5, must be immediately reactivated.

 

Fighting in Darfur began in February 2003 when rebels from black African tribes took up arms, complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government. The government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militia known as the Janjaweed against civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson -- a charge the government denies.

 

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by three years of fighting between rebels and government troops allied with Arab militia known as janjaweed.

 

Al-Bashir blamed rebels who have not signed the peace agreement, backed by massive military support from neighboring Chad, for continued attempts to undermine the peace agreement and overthrow the Sudanese government.

 

"We are ready to engage in urgent and serious discussions with all factions under the auspices of the U.N. and AU to bring about immediate arrangements for cessation of hostilities which in turn will create conducive atmosphere for the start of the political process," he said.

 

Al-Bashir also said peace talks aimed at a political settlement "should be expedited at the earliest possible" time, and he called on "those who have influence" on rebel groups outside the agreement to "use it for the sake of peace and stability in Darfur."

 

The Sudanese president told Annan that the next step should be a Security Council resolution endorsing the Addis Ababa and Abuja agreements "and authorizing immediate financial support for peacekeeping in Darfur" since all parties are now "in full agreement on the phased-approach support package."