SUDAN warned yesterday it would use force against any attempt at outside military intervention in crisis-torn Darfur. Australia and New Zealand are considering a UN request for military personnel to join a mission there and Britain has said it could send 5000 troops.
| I don't think that's something Omar really wants to do... |
Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the ruling National Congress Party, warned that force would be met by force. "Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force," he said. "Any power that intervenes in Darfur will be a loser."
| Not as big a loser as Khartoum, even if the power was the Phrench. Brits, Aussies, Merkins — hang it up. Go sit in your mosques and knit boom belts... |
Also yesterday, a group calling itself Mohammed's army called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces. "We call upon you to speedily head towards Darfur and dig deep into the ground mass graves prepared for the crusader army," the previously unknown group said. But a Darfur rebel movement in opposition to the Government called for a rapid deployment of international troops. The US Congress unanimously passed a resolution last week describing the atrocities committed in Darfur as genocide.
| Didn't defer to Kofi's opinion that it's... ummm... something else, huh? |
It called on the White House to lead international efforts to intervene. An official quoted Mr Omar as saying Sudan was capable of solving its own problems: "The National Congress firmly rejects any foreign threats targeting Sudan and its people and is opposed to any foreign intervention."
| "We have the right to kill as many of our citizens as we like, in whatever manner we please!" |
Khartoum has brushed off criticism it is not doing enough for Darfur people and pledged to improve the access of international aid agencies. But Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army said: "We are asking the United States, the United Nations Secretary-General, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees." |