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Sudan's Bashir challenges UN Darfur plan

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has sent a letter to the UN secretary-general challenging a plan to send UN peacekeepers to Darfur -- a setback to international efforts to stop the region's escalating violence.

The UN wants to send a 22,000-member joint UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission to Darfur, arguing the AU force of 7,000 now on the ground is overwhelmed.

Although Al-Bashir agreed to the plan in November, he has since sent conflicting signals about his commitment.

In his letter, obtained on Friday, al-Bashir insisted the November agreement established that the UN would provide the AU force with technical and financial assistance and "military consultants with ranks below that of the military commander appointed by the African Union."

He objected to a section of a UN report stating that "full UN involvement in command and control would be a prerequisite for UN funding and troop contribution."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received the letter on Thursday, nearly two months after he asked al-Bashir to express his commitment to the plan in writing, UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

Okabe said the letter, dated on Tuesday, "contains some elements which seem to challenge the agreements reached last November ... on peacekeeping in Darfur."

She said Ban would consult with the UN Security Council on how to respond.

Ban has repeatedly urged al-Bashir to uphold his commitment to the UN-AU peacekeeping plan and warned that Darfur's deteriorating security situation is unacceptable.

Al-Bashir's response could prompt the US and other Western countries to intensify a push for sanctions against Sudan.

US officials have said Sudan's failure to fully comply with the UN plan could lead to the imposition of punitive measures against Sudan that have been approved by the Security Council but not yet implemented.

One such measure is the establishment of a no-fly zone over Darfur to spare its residents further attacks by Sudanese military aircraft. Britain has backed the idea, but sanctions could face resistance from China, which has major business interests in Sudan.

Al-Bashir said the appendix to his letter detailed how the UN's peacekeeping plan "contravenes" the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed in May last year between Sudan's government and one of Darfur's rebel factions.

"Proposals that tend to amend, nullify or suspend any article of the DPA will not be acceptable as it may reopen discussions over issues that were previously settled with difficulty," he said, without elaborating on the supposed contradictions.

The UN plan has three phases that will culminate in the deployment of the full "hybrid" UN-AU force.

The first phase -- a "light support" package adding some equipment, military officers and UN police to the AU operation -- is nearly complete. The second phase is a "heavy support" package that includes the deployment of more than 3,000 UN military, police and civilian personnel.

"In phase three, the AU forces implementing that phase, in terms of control or command, must remain forces of the African Union supported by the United Nations," al-Bashir said.

Darfur's conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of neglect. The government is accused of unleashing militias known as the janjaweed, which are blamed for the bulk of the conflict's atrocities.

More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes in four years of conflict. On Monday, gunmen kidnapped and killed two African peacekeepers and wounded a third in southern Darfur, underscoring the difficulties of the AU force in a region the size of France.

Okabe noted that al-Bashir's "letter contains some positive elements," including expressions of support for the peace process and humanitarian assistance for Darfur's people.
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