UN's Pronk urged countries to push for a prolonged and beefed-up AU force

Oct 26 2006 CNN news report - Sudanese ambassador: U.N. envoy 'abused his authority' - excerpt:

"The plight of the people in Darfur is the making of the Sudanese," Pronk told CNN Correspondent Jeff Koinange in an interview Wednesday. "The people have been forgotten, neglected, marginalized. The government is responsible for using the army and Arab militia, which kill and kill and do not abide by any rule, let alone human rights rules."

In an October 14 blog entry, Pronk wrote: "First, the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] has lost two major battles -- last month in Umm Sidir and this week in Karakaya. The losses seem to have been very high. Reports speak about hundreds of casualties in each of the two battles with many wounded and many taken as prisoner."

"The morale in the government army in North Darfur has gone down. Some generals have been [fired]; soldiers have refused to fight," the Dutch diplomat said.

On Thursday, Mohamad said Pronk was not truthful about the army, saying that Pronk relied on unverified third party accounts.

Note, the report reminds us Mr Pronk urged countries to push for a prolonged and beefed-up African Union force. What are Sudan's tribal leaders doing? What are their views? It'd be interesting to learn what they think.
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Oct 27 2006 IRIN report - Sudan: Ambassador adamant Pronk stays out - Abdalhaleem disregarded Pronk's statements, describing them as "not faithful" to the Sudanese army. Pronk's comments, he said, reflected "things which he heard from some people about imaginary battles that had taken place". [If true, it would mean I've blogged imaginary battles. Don't think so]