Saturday, August 19, 2006

"Something very ugly is brewing there," Mark Malloch Brown - UN troops cannot be sent without agreement from Khartoum

UN troops cannot be sent without agreement from Khartoum, Reuters report reminds us Aug 18 2006 (via ST).

Also, the report reveals that Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy UN secretary-general, has told reporters:
"Something very ugly is brewing there. We are extraordinarily concerned. We are extremely worried about the deterioration of the humanitarian and security situation in Darfur, and the absence of a clear path to the deployment of a UN force."
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir

Photo: The United States warned Sudan of potential consequences if it continued to resist UN peacekeepers in Darfur, hinting of stepped up moves for an international probe on alleged war crimes in the region. Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, seen here in June 2006, has warned that his country would confront any UN-sponsored forces sent to Darfur (AFP/Aug 18, 2006/Issouf Sanogo)

Note, the above Reuter's report states that in Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said "the Sudanese government has both a need and an obligation to accept this force as part of the peace deal that they, themselves, agreed to." From what I can gather, the Sudanese government has never accepted a UN force as part of the peace deal. Unlike the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) for southern Sudan, the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) does not include a peacekeeping force.

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