Sudan's president sending letter to U.N. chief expressing support for AU-UN peacekeeping mission
From the AP (updated to reflect a newer version on the source page)...
Sudan's president is sending a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressing his commitment to the deployment of several thousand U.N. peacekeepers to help end the violence in Darfur, Sudan's U.N. envoy said [on] Friday.
The deployment would be the second step of a three-stage U.N. plan that would culminate in a 22,000-strong joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has given conflicting signals about his commitment to the plan, and Ban asked him earlier this year to state his acceptance of the second phase in writing.
Al-Bashir's letter expresses his commitment, but also raises "issues of operational, technical and legal aspects" of the proposal, Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem told The Associated Press. He declined to elaborate on those concerns.
Sudan agreed to the initiative in November, and al-Bashir reiterated his commitment in a Dec. 23 letter to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But last month, al-Bashir said [that] U.N. troops were not required in Darfur because the 7,000-member AU force on the ground could maintain order. The Sudanese president has insisted [that] the AU force needs only technical and financial support from the U.N.
Abdalhaleem said [that] Ban would be receiving the letter "at any moment." Ban's office said [that] the secretary-general did not have the letter but was told [that] al-Bashir had written it.
"Sudan of course is committed to the support by the U.N. to AMIS," Abdalhaleem said, referring to the AU force by its acrononym. "The letter expresses commitment to that, but also deals with issues of operational, technical and legal aspects."
Spokesman Sean McCormack issued the appeal as U.S presidential envoy Andrew Natsios arrived in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, for a 10-day visit that will include stops in the western Darfur region and southern Sudan.
"We are pushing on the Sudanese — we as well as others — to make sure that those forces are able to deploy in the areas that they need to deploy to and push on the Sudanese to do everything that they can to stop the violence," McCormack said.
McCormack said [that] the U.S. administration is not satisfied with the yearlong U.N. time-frame for the deployment and that not enough countries are pledging troops for the mission.
"The timeline needs to be reduced," McCormack said. "This is too critical a humanitarian issue."
The first phase — a "light support" package adding some equipment, military officers and U.N. police to the AU operation — is nearly almost complete. The second phase is a "heavy support" package that includes the deployment of more than 3,000 U.N. military, police and civilian personnel, along with substantial aviation and logistical assets.
South Africa's Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency, said [that] council members were told [that] al-Bashir had sent the letter, though he said [that] he did not know its contents. "We are told [that] the letter has been signed by al-Bashir and [that] it's on its way," Kumalo told a news conference.
Darfur's conflict erupted in 2003, when ethnic African rebels took arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of neglect. More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes. The government is accused of unleashing militias known as the janjaweed blamed for the bulk of the conflict's atrocities.
He also urged countries to provide "urgent contributions of human resources and equipment" for the joint force, and said [that] the second phase would cost $287.9 million (€218.72 million).
EU foreign ministers are expected to seek extra funding [on] Monday from the EU aid budget and from the coffers of its 27 member governments.
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