Sudan's UN ambassador challenged the US to send troops to the Darfur region if it really believes a genocide is taking place, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Khartoum to urge the government to end the conflict.
Sudan's UN envoy Elfatih Mohamed Erwa was asked Tuesday about the effect of the US "genocide" designations when both Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry ruled out sending US troops to end the 19-month conflict in their debate Thursday.
"If it is really a genocide they should be committed to send troops," the Sudanese ambassador said. "This is why I don't think they're genuine about its being genocide."
Would US troops really be welcome?
"I won't say that I welcome them because I don't have the authority to say that, but if they want to do that, let them talk to us," Erwa said.
US Ambassador John Danforth, when told that Erwa raised the possibility of discussing the deployment of US troops, said: "I've never heard of such a thing before. It's certainly an attention grabber."
"It's a curious idea, but I don't think it has a future," he said.
The 1948 genocide convention defines that act as a calculated effort to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part.
Violence broke out when two non-Arab Darfur rebel movements took up arms in February 2003 against government installations, saying they wanted a bigger share of power and Sudan's resources. More than 50,000 people have been killed and 1.4 million driven from their homes in what the UN says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Last month, the US State Department said that in recent interviews with 1,136 Darfur refugees in neighboring Chad it found a "consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities committed against non-Arab villagers." It added that about a third of the refugees who were interviewed heard racial epithets while under attack.
In Khartoum, Blair was to meet with President Omar Ahmed al-Bashir and his deputy Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, on the first leg of a three-day Africa visit.
He is expected to urge al-Bashir to reach a peace deal with rebels wreaking havoc in the Darfur region, to allow aid organizations proper access to refugees, and allow peacekeepers from the African Union.
Due to limited time, Blair will not visit Darfur, with his spokesman saying his presence would be best used hammering home the international community's message to the Sudanese government.
The Prime Minister is making his five-hour flying visit to Sudan, coping with temperatures expected to reach a sweltering 42 Celsius degrees with accompanying high humidity, despite having undergone a heart procedure only last week.
Blair will fly later in the day on to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa where he will chair the second meeting of his Commission for Africa designed to pave the way for solutions to the continent's long-term problems.
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