Sudan Backs Away From U.N. Plan
Bashir Reneging on November Agreement; Sanctions, 'No-Fly' Zone Possible

Colum Lynch
March 14, 2007
Washington Post
Original Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301837_pf.html

Sudan's president has rejected the core elements of a plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur to help protect civilians from a government-backed campaign of violence.
The move set the stage for a renewed push by the United States and Britain to impose U.N. sanctions on Sudan. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said Tuesday that he would introduce a draft resolution to the Security Council as early as next week.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir wrote in a 13-page letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that he wants to renegotiate the terms of a deal to bolster a force of about 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur with thousands of U.N. troops. The Sudanese leader claims that the plan violates key provisions of last May's Darfur Peace Agreement between his government and Darfur's main rebel group.
Ban said Bashir's letter included some positive elements -- including support for revived political talks with Darfurian rebels -- but it also seems to challenge agreements Sudan made in November to allow U.N. and African Union peacekeepers to protect civilians in Darfur.
U.S. and British diplomats say that Bashir's letter is another delaying tactic in a four-year-long campaign to prevent the outside world from taking action to halt atrocities in Darfur, and that even Khartoum's friends on the Security Council are losing patience.
Jones Parry expressed confidence that China, a major consumer of Sudanese oil and previously opposed to sanctions, would not stand in the way of additional U.N. measures. But a senior Chinese diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said China never ever believes that sanctions will resolve the crisis in Darfur. Our sense is that we are moving closer towards having our Sudanese friends consider and deploy that peacekeeping force.
Sudan agreed in November to permit a three-stage transition from the current African Union mission to a larger force of more than 20,000 African Union and U.N. peacekeepers. Khartoum has already begun to raise objections to key elements of the second heavy support phase -- which involves the deployment of more than 2,250 heavily armed U.N. troops backed by attack helicopters and with a mandate to protect civilians.
Bashir wrote Ban that U.N. and African troops have no authority to use force to protect civilians, saying Sudan bears the primary responsibility for civilians' security. He refused a U.N. proposal to place the force under the overall command of a U.N. general, demanded that the United Nations dramatically reduce the number of troops it intends to send to Darfur, and called for the elimination of helicopter and air reconnaissance units. The African Union is mandated to lead a monitoring, not a combat mission, he wrote.
Bashir's efforts to delay and reinterpret the agreement or try and limit it simply are not acceptable to the international community, said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. I think the patience of the international community is limited, and I think that we unfortunately may be approaching a time when other steps will have to be taken.
American and British diplomats have been working through the final details of a package of financial penalties, targeted sanctions on a list of individuals and even a possible no-fly zone over Darfur if Sudan does not comply with international demands.