Gov't under pressure to accept UN peacekeepers

The Sudanese government is under intense diplomatic pressure to accept a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur and speed up the implementation of its peace agreement with the region’s main rebel groups, diplomatic sources say. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan telephoned Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir to urge him to let a UN military planning team into Darfur as soon as possible, said Stephane Dujarric, Annan’s spokesman, on Tuesday. "The focus of the phone call was the [Darfur] peace agreement and the Secretary-General’s call for the assessment mission to be able to do its work as quickly as possible," he added. On 16 May, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution under Chapter VII of the charter, which authorises the use of force. The resolution called for a mission to be deployed to Darfur within a week, but so far, Sudan has not granted access to the team. Alpha Konare, African Union commission chief, also urged the Sudanese government to allow the UN to deploy as soon as possible. "The credibility of the [Darfur peace] agreement lies in making sure the undertakings are applied. We must lose no more time. If there is any doubt, everything comes into question," he told reporters on Tuesday after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Annan’s special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, and assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Hédi Annabi, arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday to seek Sudanese support for a UN force in Darfur. The state minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al-Samani Al-Wasiyla Al-Samani, told reporters after meeting Brahimi on Tuesday that the consultations were intended to determine the UN’s role in the management of Darfur operations - in collaboration with the African Union Mission - with regard to logistics, training and financial aspects, as well as increasing the number of the African troops. He further emphasised the importance of implementing the first phase of the Darfur agreement - security - and the repatriation of refugees and displaced people. On Wednesday, the UN envoys were scheduled to meet Sudan’s foreign minister, Lam Akol, and the head of the government delegation at the Darfur peace talks, Majzoub al-Khalifa. "The topic on the agenda is the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement," said Bahaa Elkoussy, deputy spokesman of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), on Wednesday. "Tomorrow, they will meet [President Umar al] Bashir at some point." According to Dujarric, President Bashir told Annan he would discuss the matter with his government after his meeting with Brahimi, and the government would then decide on the matter soon. Meanwhile, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation UNMIS, issued a report on Sudan’s human rights situation on Tuesday. The report stated that Sudanese authorities were failing to uphold many of the commitments made last year under the accord that ended the country’s southern civil war. The report, which covered the period between December 2005 and April, said the Darfur conflict had reached a new level of violence, both in intensity and frequency. "The killing of civilians, raping of women and girls and pillaging of entire villages continued in Darfur," it said. "As a result of the fighting, Darfur’s civilian population suffered from indiscriminate attacks, loss of property, and massive displacement." Despite the peace agreement, the situation in Darfur is far from resolved, and dozens of people have been killed in clashes between rebels and government-armed Arab militias since the accord was signed earlier this month. A stronger UN force is scheduled to replace the 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, which is hindered by limited resources and a weak mandate.