SUDAN:Sudan yesterday described a UN Security Council resolution to deploy 26,000 UN and African Union troops and police to Darfur as "practical" and said it would co-operate fully with the deployment of the force.
The joint operation, authorised on Tuesday to use force to protect civilians and the world's largest aid operation, will cost $2 billion (€1.46 billion) in its first year and take over from the struggling African Union force in Sudan's remote west.
"It is practical. It's taken into consideration most of our concerns - we are comfortable with the resolution," said foreign minister Lam Akol. "Now that we have been part of the discussion, we will definitely co-operate with it."
Mr Akol was referring to negotiations which eventually removed the threat of sanctions if Sudan failed to comply.
The UN resolution authorises up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,432 civilian police which, if deployed, would be the world's largest peacekeeping force. It invokes chapter seven of the UN Charter, under which the UN can authorise force.
The measure allows the use of force for self-defence, to ensure the free movement of humanitarian workers and to protect civilians under attack. However, it acknowledges Sudan's sovereignty. But it has been watered down several times and no longer allows the new force to seize and dispose of illegal arms, saying it can only monitor such weapons.
International experts estimate that 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing central government of neglecting the region.
Western nations maintain the main purpose of the new force is to protect innocent civilians, while Sudan insists the operation must not usurp Khartoum's ultimate responsibility. The differing interpretations could create difficulties. The precise wording of the text could support both interpretations. The resolution says force could be used "to protect civilians without prejudice to the responsibility of the government of Sudan".
Sudan's UN ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, insisted that "regarding the protection of civilians, it is reflected very clearly that this should not be prejudicial to the responsibility of the government of Sudan itself . . . No blank cheque is there".
But Britain's UN ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said: "there is certainly no need to seek the agreement of Sudan" to protect civilians, saying the force commander had a mandate to make decisions on the ground.
France's deputy UN ambassador, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, agreed. Many of the changes in the text were made to get Sudan's co-operation and that of its supporters on the council, such as Qatar (the only Arab nation) and, at times, China.
Meanwhile, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed a plan for three days of talks starting tomorrow in Arusha, Tanzania, aimed at getting about a dozen rebel factions to agree a platform for peace negotiations with the government.
"This meeting is a crucial occasion to advance the cause of peace in Darfur and to promote a conducive atmosphere for peace talks," Mr Solana said.
UN envoy Jan Eliasson and African Union counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim have been pushing hard to get the rebels to the table, but persuading them to agree a deal that could lead to a comprehensive peace pact for Darfur is a daunting task.
Talks are also likely to take place without one major player, Sudan Liberation Movement faction leader Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, who has spurned calls from the African Union and UN to attend.
Although Mr Nur does not have a lot of troops, his popular support among refugees and other Darfuris gives him a power that diplomats say is crucial to unifying rebels fighting in the remote area the size of France.
"It'll be really important for him to come. When you talk to people on the ground . . . he still carries a lot of weight. He's the one who can give the blessing and say now is the time," said Sally Chin, a Sudan analyst with the International Crisis Group.
One faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) signed a peace agreement in Nigeria in 2006, but other groups have refused to take part and Darfuris have roundly rejected it.
The future of that deal depends on what happens in Arusha, Ms Chin, argues.
Many factions want the agreement scrapped. The SLA and other rebel groups have differing demands and have splintered again and again, multiplying the difficulty of the diplomatic task at hand.
"It's not clear whether the political and military leaderships are unified and this could be a stumbling block for the future," Ms Chin said.
Khartoum may hold a key to solving that problem if it allows SLA humanitarian co-ordinator Suleiman Jamous to travel to the talks and for urgently needed medical treatment, Sudan experts say. Jamous, who was the main liaison between the world's largest aid operation and Darfur rebels, has been virtually imprisoned for 13 months in Darfur under threat of arrest. He was credited with keeping looting of aid convoys down and aid workers safe. - (Reuters)