UN's Jan Pronk facing death threats

By Mohammed Abdulrahman
March 8, 2006 
Radio Netherlands
Original Source: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/sud060308?view=Standard

A report by a Sudanese newspaper that the pro-government, Sudanese Students Union (SSU) has offered $100,000 (two-point-five billion Sudanese pounds) for the head of UN envoy Jan Pronk, has sent shockwaves through the Khartoum regime. The threat came after the proposal to replace African peacekeepers in Darfur with UN forces. The comments attributed to the SSU have now been retracted by its chairman Mohammed Idris.
However, the student leader told the London-based al-Sharaq al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday: Our message to Mr Pronk is that if those who are trying to convince [the UN not to] send international forces to Darfur fail, more than 9000 students are waiting in Darfur as 'time bombs' if any international troops dare to come [to the region].

Meanwhile, The Popular Committee for Defending Islam and the Homeland (a conservative religious body) called for a demonstration in Khartoum on Wednesday to protest sending UN forces to Sudan, and the paramilitary Popular Defence Force made the so-called 'death swear' in a parade in front of President Bashir last week in a bid to prevent any international forces from reaching Darfur.
Escalation
This escalation marks a turning point in what one western diplomat in Khartoum called the 'intimidation war' against the UN mission in Sudan to foil any attempt to replace African forces.
A reliable source at the UN mission in Sudan told Radio Netherlands that the mission takes the threats very seriously and consultation is going on with the government of Sudan over the matter.
Chanting slogans 
Similar demonstrations were organised a few weeks ago in Khartoum during which the demonstrators chanted slogans against Radhia Ashouri, the UN spokesperson in Sudan. Shortly after the incident, she was transferred to Beirut in Lebanon with such speed that it seems implausible that the move was just a routine job change. 
UN special envoy Jan Pronk warned recently that intelligence sources have reported, people in Khartoum who were not there before, which has been interpreted as meaning an al-Qaeda presence. The terrorist network has allegedly made threats against the UN, which Mr Pronk says have led to the taking of extra security measures.

That was confirmed by his critics as well, among them Sudan's Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardhi. He also warned, while referring to 'foreign elements' in his country, that the safety of a UN peacekeeping force could not be guaranteed.
Threats to kill
According to the Alshraq al al-Awsat newspaper, threats of attacks in reaction to, or to prevent, the sending of foreign troops to Darfur are commonplace nowadays in Khartoum. Another unknown organisation threatened to kill the US charge d'affairs in Sudan for allegedly insulting the Sudanese people and prophet Muhammad in a private dinner attended by some Sudanese. 
The accusations were denied by the US diplomat who was summoned to the foreign ministry of Sudan to be asked about the matter. Two days later the diplomat left Khartoum on a previously unannounced holiday.

This atmosphere of mounting anti-UN sentiment in Khartoum seems to be changing the tone of the UN mission in Sudan over the proposed peacekeeping force. Instead of the previous preference of replacing African Union forces in Darfur with international troops, the UN mission in Sudan believes that step is, Something which Khartoum would not be prepared even to consider, or even a disastrous development, which could lead to all out Jihad.

Kofi Annan
This statement doesn't seem to completely conform to the approach of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who is still pushing for UN forces in Darfur with the support of the US administration.
The UN mission in Sudan is now apparently not very enthusiastic about sending international, and in particular western forces wearing blue helmets into Darfur. A visible rift with his boss in New York is the last thing Jan Pronk needs, while facing the attempts to single him out and blame him as the source of all longstanding ailments of Sudan.