Sudan divided over UN troops for Darfur

KHARTOUM – Sudan’s two ruling parties are divided over sending UN forces to its violent Darfur region despite three days of direct talks aimed at tackling the thorniest issues facing the country.

Khartoum’s northern-dominated government has rejected a UN takeover from struggling African Union (AU) soldiers monitoring a shaky truce in the remote west. The AU said on Monday one soldier was killed and five more wounded in two attacks on its troops in Darfur last week.Veteran UN troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi last week secured a guarantee that a joint UN-AU team could begin work within days to plan for a possible takeover, the first step towards transition.But on Monday the government was still divided over UN troops in Darfur.”The United Nations forces were not rejected to come to Darfur, but we agreed that …they should come with a defined mandate,” said First Vice President Salva Kiir, head of the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).But President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, chief of the northern National Congress Party (NCP), said he had a different opinion.”We heard the words of Salva Kiir, and his opinion is different to mine,” he told reporters late on Monday night.He declined to answer a question on why he opposed UN transition in Darfur.The NCP and SPLM signed a deal in 2005 to end more than two decades of a north-south civil war which claimed 2 million lives and forced more than 4 million to flee their homes.That deal did not cover the separate three-year-old Darfur conflict, where tens of thousands have been killed.The former foes, now partners in government, began a forum on Saturday to overcome obstacles to the implementation of the southern peace deal, including separate conflicts in the east and Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed and up to 2 million displaced.Differences over key issues such as the borders of the oil-rich Abyei region pushed the talks into an extra day and ate away into the night before a rather bland final communique was agreed.- Nampa-ReutersThe AU said on Monday one soldier was killed and five more wounded in two attacks on its troops in Darfur last week.Veteran UN troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi last week secured a guarantee that a joint UN-AU team could begin work within days to plan for a possible takeover, the first step towards transition.But on Monday the government was still divided over UN troops in Darfur.”The United Nations forces were not rejected to come to Darfur, but we agreed that …they should come with a defined mandate,” said First Vice President Salva Kiir, head of the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).But President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, chief of the northern National Congress Party (NCP), said he had a different opinion.”We heard the words of Salva Kiir, and his opinion is different to mine,” he told reporters late on Monday night.He declined to answer a question on why he opposed UN transition in Darfur.The NCP and SPLM signed a deal in 2005 to end more than two decades of a north-south civil war which claimed 2 million lives and forced more than 4 million to flee their homes.That deal did not cover the separate three-year-old Darfur conflict, where tens of thousands have been killed.The former foes, now partners in government, began a forum on Saturday to overcome obstacles to the implementation of the southern peace deal, including separate conflicts in the east and Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed and up to 2 million displaced.Differences over key issues such as the borders of the oil-rich Abyei region pushed the talks into an extra day and ate away into the night before a rather bland final communique was agreed.- Nampa-Reuters