Sudan: Accord does not mean UN troops in Darfur
Sudanese foreign minister Lam Akol insisted today the Addis Ababa accord did not mean UN peacekeepers will join African Union troops in a joint force in Darfur.
He said it only entailed the provision of UN technical assistance.
"There should be no talk about a mixed force. What we are discussing and what is agreed upon is an African Union force assisted by the United Nations," Akol told the official Radio Omdurman in the first reaction from Khartoum to the agreement initialled in Ethiopia on Thursday night.
"We have not actually overcome the question of converting the African Union force into a United Nations one," Akol said, referring to the Sudanese government's objections to a UN Security Council resolution in August that provided for the AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur to be turned into a much bigger United Nations one.
"The force will be under the command and control of the African Union, which may accept assistance, technical assistance, from the United Nations," Akol said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced on Thursday night that a multi-lateral agreement had been reached in principle for the creation of a joint African Union and UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. He said it could provide for the deployment of as many as 17,000 soldiers and 3,000 police officers.
Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations, who attended the day-long negotiations in the Ethiopian capital, cautioned that his provisional approval of the plan would have to be endorsed by his government in Khartoum.
The accord, negotiated among envoys of other African, Arab and European countries, did not fix a timetable for the force to begin work, partly because of Sudan's reservations.
Akol's remarks today seemed to indicate that Khartoum was not prepared to endorse the agreement.
A top adviser to Sudan's president said today there was no problem with including UN troops with African soldiers in a mixed Darfur peacekeeping force, but that the levels of each side still had to be worked out in a key deal aimed at ending violence in the war-torn region.
The comments by Mahzoub al-Khalifa contradicted earlier comments by Sudan's foreign minister Lam Akol, who insisted the UN could only provide technical support to the African Union force.
Al-Khalifa is the top Sudanese official on Darfur and is considered close to Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who is to make the final decision on the agreement.
For months, Sudan has strongly opposed allowing UN troops into Darfur. But its representatives agreed in principle to the mixed peacekeeping force during talks in Addis Ababa. The delegation said they had to consult with the leadership in Khartoum before giving final approval.
"The concept of a mixed AU-UN force for Darfur is not a problem, as long as it remains clear that the leadership of the force, and its largest component, remains African," al-Khalifa said.
"We can discuss the exact numbers and the command structure later, according to the needs in the field," he said, responding to a UN suggestion for 17,000 peacekeepers to join the UA force.
