KHARTOUM, 16 August 2007 — A key Darfur rebel leader said a viable peacekeeping force for the war-torn western Sudanese region must include non-Africans and toned down his conditions for joining peace talks. African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said in Khartoum on Sunday that troops from outside Africa were not needed for a planned joint AU/UN force as African nations had pledged enough soldiers already.
The comments angered Darfur rebel leaders who say AU troops in Darfur have been unable to stem the violence. International experts estimate 200,000 have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in more than four years of revolt in Darfur.
“If anybody talks about only one continent (for the force) that means it is racism and we are against that strongly,” Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Chairman and founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed Nur told Reuters late on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the death toll from a cholera outbreak spread by devastating floods in east Sudan has risen to 53 with a total of 763 cases identified, Sudanese health officials said yesterday.
Sudan’s Health Ministry officials in the eastern Gedaref state said the total number of cases to date was 763, with 53 deaths.
Sudan had appeared reluctant to announce a cholera outbreak, but a ministry report obtained by Reuters said 70 percent of samples of acute watery diarrhea from the affected area had tested positive for cholera.
