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Sudan Govt Rejects UN Troops for Darfur
 Sudan rejects US-backed efforts to have UN peacekeeping troops take over from African Union troops in the countrys troubled Darfur region, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said yesterday. The United States has said genocide is continuing in Darfur with rape, looting and killing by Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, and has urged the African Union to accept a hand over to UN peacekeepers. The government has rejected this ... We did not hear anybody saying they (the AU) are not doing enough to stop the violence. What we are hearing is that theyre short of funds, Akol told Reuters. Sudanese officials had previously shown a softer position toward the deployment of UN troops in Darfur, which the AU says it supports in principle. The United Nations has already begun contingency planning for any takeover.African foreign ministers will make a final decision in early March on any handover. In a statement issued yesterday the head of the AU mission in Sudan, Baba Gana Kingibe, said the transition was inevitable in the long run. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million herded into camps during more than three years of fighting in Sudans remote western Darfur region. Non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglect. Posted by: Fred 2006-02-23 |
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