In my view (for what it's worth) he is right. I think the African Union is doing an excellent job in Darfur and could do even a greater job if they were helped with NATO's expertiese and technology and given the mandate of a protection force. If Khartoum wants to avoid a UN peace force in Darfur because it fears retaliation from Janjaweed, terrorists and other enemies, surely a compromise would be for Khartoum to request AU to expand mandate of AMIS to turn them into a peacekeeping protection force that can help quell anarchy and not just act as monitors observing a broken ceasefire agreement. Excerpt from AFP report:
Pronk, the UN special representative in Sudan, also spoke of rising anti-UN feelings in Khartoum as authorities there fiercely oppose plans to replace an ineffective African Union force in Darfur by a mobile, more robust UN contingent.
Noting that while Khartoum did not oppose the use of NATO logistical capabilities to support a Darfur operation, it was dead against deploying a NATO-led force on its soil.
A NATO-led force "would be a recipe for disaster ... People would really start a Jihad (holy war) against it," Pronk said.
"The (Khartoum) government is taking a very strong position against the transition (to the UN) and that is new," he noted. "There is fear in Khartoum that the transition will be a conspiracy which will bring Sudan into the same situation as Iraq."
"The climate in Khartoum against the UN is heating up very strongly. There are threats, warnings," Pronk said. "They speak of recolonization, invasion, imperialism, (a) conspiracy against the Arab-Islamic world." (ST/AFP)
Photo: Ayman al-Zawahri - see further details at Wikipedia and Sudan Watch June 20 2005 Al-Qaeda said angry at Sudan for passing data to US
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