RUMBEK, Sudan, 22 January 2005 — A disagreement over which countries will take part may delay the deployment of up to 10,000 UN peacekeepers to southern Sudan, UN and former rebel sources said yesterday. The Khartoum government and Sudan People’s Liberation Army signed an agreement on Jan. 9 to end Africa’s longest conflict, paving the way for the deployment of a UN force to monitor a permanent cease-fire.
The UN Security Council is expected in the coming weeks to issue a mandate for a mission of military observers and protection forces. UN officials have said the mission will probably number between 9,000 and 10,000 personnel. However, senior SPLA official Deng Alour Deng said the former guerrilla group had expressed reservations about the countries that have volunteered staff for the UN mission.
“We told the UN that these countries must be agreed on by the two parties. They’ve chosen countries without consulting us,” Deng said by telephone from Nairobi. More than two decades of war in Sudan’s oil-producing south, sparked by factors including Khartoum’s attempt to impose Shariah (Islamic) law on the rest of the country, have killed two million people and forced millions more to flee their homes.
Differences over the peacekeepers threaten to stall the deployment of the force which was due to be completed within six months of the UN mandate being approved, UN sources said. Several countries including Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India have offered troops for the mission, one UN source said. The source added that the SPLA were concerned about the predominance of Muslim nations on the list. “We have reservations about the whole list,” Deng said without elaborating. He did not name the countries involved.
In Nairobi, the Joint Monitoring Mission Joint Military Commission, said it was willing to use its members expertise to help Khartoum and the SPLA take the steps called for in the peace accord. It said it would help both sides with creating a “post-comprehensive peace agreement environment”, including setting up a viable police force and civilian administration and preparing for disarmament and demobilization of fighters.
In another development, Sudan has released 35 members of the main Islamist opposition party, including its top foreign relations expert, the party said yesterday. The Popular Congress’ foreign relations secretary and former top regime member Mohammed Amin Al-Khalifa was released, party leader Hassan Al-Turabi remains in detention along with a dozen other members.
Turabi’s deputy, Mussa Al-Mak Koor said Khalifa was freed early yesterday in Khartoum, while more than 30 others were released on Wednesday and Thursday. However, Koor played down the move, saying without full freedom and lifting of the state of emergency currently in place in the country, the step was insignificant. “You do not talk of releasing detainees and achieving peace while freedoms are oppressed,” Koor said.
