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Sudan,
France Reject NATO Role in Darfur
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The AU has a 1,800-strong force in Darfur to monitor a fragile ceasefire between the government and the rebels.
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KHARTOUM,
February 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Sudan and France
roundly rejected on Sunday, February 13, a call by UN chief Kofi Annan
for a NATO intervention in the troubled region of Darfur, saying that
world ought to back the existing African Union observer mission.
“We
believe that the African Union has the full mandate and capabilities
to accomplish its mission satisfactorily and we expect that no other
agency would tamper with this mission,” Sudanese junior foreign
minister Naguib Al-Khair Abdel Wahab told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We
commend the work done by the African Union, which has been recognized
by the UN as the major body responsible for supervising the peace
efforts in Darfur, and we expect the UN secretary-general to spare no
effort to bolster the AU in carrying out its assigned mission.”
The
AU has about 1,800 military observers and troops on the ground in
Darfur charged with monitoring a fragile ceasefire between government
forces and Darfur rebels.
According
to the Doha-based Aljazeera news channel the rebel Sudan Liberation
Movement (SLM) has reiterated support for a NATO role in the troubled
region.
Addressing
the annual Munich defense and security conference Sunday, Annan urged
NATO and the European Union to intervene to stop violence in Darfur.
“Additional
measures are urgently required - those organizations with real
capacity - and NATO as well as the EU are well represented in this
room, must give serious consideration to what, in practical terms,
they can do to help end this tragedy.”
An
African Union summit, hosted by Libya in October, concluded with a
joint statement rejecting any “foreign intervention” in
Darfur.
French
Rejection
France
echoed Sudan’s view, rejecting a NATO role in the war-torn region.
“We
reject any NATO intervention in Africa,” a French source attending
the Munich conference, told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The
United States pressed anew last month for imposing United Nations
sanctions on Sudan, reiterating that Khartoum was committing
“genocide” in troubled Darfur.
A
UN report refuted earlier in the month US claims of genocide being
perpetrated in Darfur.
“The
conclusion that no genocidal policy has been pursued and implemented
in Darfur by the government authorities, directly or through the
militias under their control, should not be taken in any way as
detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated in the
region,” the report said.
Immediately
after the UN report, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and
Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia asked Annan to take action on
alleged human rights violations in Darfur or tender his resignation.
International
aid workers had told Britain’s The Observer newspaper that
the US administration was making too much fuss about the humanitarian
crisis in Darfur as it tirelessly sought a regime change in Khartoum.
The
Darfur conflict erupted in April 2003 when the rebel Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) took
up arms against the Khartoum government.
The
United Nations said the conflict is causing the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis at present.
An
estimated 670,000 people have fled their homes since the beginning of
the conflict while 110,000 others reportedly sought refuge in
neighboring Chad.
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