Sudan: Compromise possible over Darfur hybrid force
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan hopes to reach a compromise with the United Nations over a proposed "hybrid" peacekeeping force to bring stability to its war-ravaged Darfur region, Sudanese officials said on Tuesday.
The U.N. Security Council endorsed a plan for a so-called hybrid force last week that envisions more than 23,000 African Union and U.N. troops and police to protect civilians and use force to deter violence in Sudan's west.
"We are cooperating well with the United Nations," Mutrif Siddig, Sudan's undersecretary for foreign affairs, told Reuters as word of new U.S. sanctions on Sudan circulated in Khartoum. "It is quite possible we are going to reach a compromise."
The United Nations says at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million driven from homes in Darfur since ethnic and political conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the state, complaining of neglect. Khartoum says 9,000 people have died.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who has termed the violent conflict in Sudan's west as genocide, imposed new sanctions on Sudan on Tuesday and sought support for international penalties, saying Khartoum was obstructing efforts to bring peace.
Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig said: "We believe that the American decision is unfair and unjust. It is based on wrong assumptions."
Bush said the U.S. Treasury Department will bar 31 companies owned or controlled by Sudan from doing business in the U.S. financial system, including a company that has been transporting weapons to Sudanese government and militia forces in Darfur.
The companies targeted include firms in Sudan's booming oil business, all of which are crucial to Sudan's economy. Bush also imposed economic sanctions against four individuals including two senior officials and a Darfur rebel leader.
SUDAN SAYS SANCTIONS UNFAIR
Sudanese officials said Khartoum was still studying the proposals for a hybrid force, and would hold high-level talks with U.N. and African Union officials in the Ethiopian capital next week to give an answer.
The expanded U.S. sanctions would not "at all" affect Sudan's response to the U.N. hybrid force proposal, said Siddig, the foreign affairs undersecretary.
"It seems this is related to domestic politics. ... We isolate the U.S. position from the U.N. position," he said, but added he feared the U.S. move would send a "confusing signal".
Top Sudanese officials have said the number of troops wanted for a hybrid force was too large. Khartoum wants the troops on the ground to be African but says there is room for the United Nations to lend its experience and support.
Some 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur have so far failed to quell the violence there despite a 2006 peace deal between the government and one rebel faction.
The hybrid proposals, from the United Nations and the African Union, have two troop options: one with 19,500 troops composed of 18 infantry battalions, and another with 17,605 troops with 15 infantry battalions.
Police would include 3,772 officers and perhaps an extra 2,500 men to establish a local police force in refugee camps.
One of the main tasks would be to provide security to the tens of thousands living in camps and to patrol humanitarian routes and possibly escort aid convoys that have been attacked regularly by armed groups and militia.
