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UN confusion over Darfur plan

The UN Security Council welcomed the Sudanese president's commitment to a UN plan to help end the escalating conflict in Darfur culminating in the deployment of a "hybrid" African Union (AU)-UN force -- but minutes later Sudan's UN ambassador flatly ruled out any UN peacekeeping troops in Darfur.

The ambassador's comments on Wednesday to reporters at the end of a Security Council meeting to discuss President Omar al-Bashir's letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan supposedly endorsing the UN's three-step package raised serious questions about the Sudanese leader's commitment to Annan's plan for a hybrid force.

Annan had told the Sudanese president in a letter earlier this month that every effort would be made to find African troops for a hybrid force of 17,300 military personnel and 5,300 police, but if that proved impossible the UN would use "a broader pool of troop contributing countries."

The UN chief told reporters on Wednesday that an African Union communique indicated that the size of the hybrid force should be determined by an on-the-ground assessment undertaken jointly by the AU and the UN.

"It's not a political issue, it's a technical determination," he said.

Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem told reporters on Wednesday that the hybrid force must be smaller and have no UN peacekeepers in traditional blue helmets, only African troops supported by UN technical and logistical experts.

"We are not talking about two armies by the African Union and the United Nations doing their job in Darfur. Rather the force is African, the leader is an African, and the logistical and technical support is by the United Nations," he said.

"This three-phased plan is to augment the Africa forces -- and not replace them," he said.

"There is [to be] no blue helmet peacekeepers in Darfur. There is support and logistical support staff by the UN, wearing their own helmets, but they are not going to engage in peacekeeping activities," he said.

Al-Bashir said in the letter to Annan released on Tuesday and discussed by the council on Wednesday that Sudan is ready "to start immediately" to implement two recent agreements that endorsed the three-step UN plan to beef up the beleaguered 7,000-strong AU force in Darfur.

Annan emerged from Wednesday's council meeting telling reporters that "the president has accepted the three-phased approach as a package," and that council members "are encouraged by the positive tone" of al-Bashir's letter.

But Annan urged the UN to quickly test al-Bashir's commitment to the package in order to allay skepticism that his words won't be followed by action.

He told reporters there were "some doubts and hesitations" because "there have been so many disappointments" after past promises by the Sudanese leader.

"This is a challenge for the Sudanese government to prove to the international community that it means business, it stands by the letter it has written to me ... and it stands by its discussions with my envoy," he said.

Annan told reporters the first phase of the UN package was already being implemented "and we're going to accelerate that -- and, of course, that's a way of testing the government's willingness to cooperate."
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