KHARTOUM: The head of international peacekeepers in Darfur yesterday downplayed Omar Bashir’s threat to expel the force if a genocide indictment against the Sudanese president is acted upon, saying Khartoum authorities have so far been helpful.
Rodolphe Adada, the peacekeepers chief, said Sudan has been working to speed up the deployment of the UN-African Union force, and that the government’s attitude has been one of “working with us and helping us.” Adada’s comments came a day after Bashir threatened in an interview with pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV to go to war and ask Darfur peacekeepers to leave if the International Criminal Court formally seeks his arrest.
Adada says that Bashir, who visited the peacekeepers just days after the charges were announced, said “he was supportive of the mission” and promised to “help.”
