Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Lam Akol said on Wednesday
that his country would not allow the United Nations to play a
military role in Sudan's western region of Darfur.
Lam Akol made the remarks during a meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi,
special envoy of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, according to
spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jamal Mohamed
Ibrahim.
"The foreign minister explained Sudan's view on the recent UN
Security Council resolution, affirming that the Darfur peace
agreement does not provide in its security arrangements any role
for the UN or any other party except the African Union," the
spokesman told reporters.
The Sudanese government signed the peace agreement with a main
rebel faction of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by MinniArkou
Minawi in the Nigerian capital Abuja on May 5.
But the rival SLM faction led by Abdu al-Wahid al-Nour and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Khalil Ibrahim refused
to sign the peace agreement. The African Union (AU) has given them
until May 31 to do so.
On May 16, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution urging
speedy implementation of the Darfur peace agreement and giving the
Sudanese government a week to let in a UN assessment team to
prepare for a UN takeover of the current AU peacekeeping mission in
Darfur.
The Sudanese government, which has been strongly opposed to
replacing the AU peacekeepers with UN troops, denied the team
access to Darfur as the Security Council deadline expired.
Presidential advisor Majzoub al-Khalifa told reporters following
his meeting with the UN envoy that the Sudanese government did not
accept the deployment of international forces in Darfur under
Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which authorizes the use of force
if the Security Council resolution is not complied with.
"The government does not oppose an increase in the AU
peacekeeping force in Darfur as long as the move is aimed at
stabilizing the situation and helping implement the Darfur peace
agreement," al-Khalifa said.
He said that the UN could provide humanitarian assistance for
the local residents and deliver logistic support to the AU force in
Darfur.
The 7,800-strong AU peacekeeping force, which have been deployed
in Darfur since the government and Darfur rebels reached a
cease-fire agreement in April 2004, was too underfunded to maintain
security and stability in the war-torn region, where tens of
thousands of people have been killed and about one million
displaced since the conflict erupted in February 2003.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese National Assembly (parliament)
reiterated its opposition to deploying international forces in
Darfur under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter.
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister who flew into
Khartoum on Tuesday to arrange access for the team, is due to meet
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir himself on Thursday to put his
case for the UN technical mission to be allowed in.
(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)
