Sudan rejected a wider role for African peacekeepers in putting down violence and disarming militiamen in the Darfur region, as Sudanese and rebel officials opened peace talks Monday under heavy international pressure to find a solution to the crisis. The African Union proposed ahead of the talks to send nearly 2,000 peacekeepers to Darfur. A Sudanese official rejected the African Union proposal, saying only his government was allowed to keep security in the sprawling Darfur region of western Sudan. "Nobody agreed about that (a peacekeeping force). There was an agreement about a force to protect observers," Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad said. "The security role is the role of the government of Sudan and its security forces."
| "And we're making Darfur secure for the Master Race™!" |
He said Sudan might consider an expanded African Union role later perhaps in 2008. "If there's a need, it will be discussed." His comments appeared to be a setback for the international community's hopes that the African Union could devise an African solution to the 18-month-old conflict that the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis and others say amounts to genocide.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday that his government was ready to help finance an enlarged African Union force for Darfur. "The government of Sudan may need more assistance from the AU, and it's our job to facilitate it," he told reporters while traveling to Sudan for talks. Straw met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail on Monday night, saying he was pleased with the progress Sudan had made in ensuring humanitarian groups' access to Darfur. During his two-day visit, Straw was to meet with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir before visiting a relief camp in Darfur. |