Sudan leader rules out non-African troops in Darfur

[Eugene]

Soruce: Reuters

Sudan leader rules out non-African troops in Darfur
Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:44pm EST

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's president on Friday
said he would not accept non-African troops in a
combined United Nations/African Union peacekeeping
force in Darfur, apart from Chinese and Pakistani
technical units already committed.

It was the strongest public statement yet of Sudan's
resistance to outside involvement in the war-torn
region -- a stance that many in the U.N. see as a
delaying tactic to undermine the peacekeeping
mission.

The 26,000 "hybrid" U.N and AU peacekeepers are
supposed to start operating in Darfur from January
and bring security to its people after more than
4-1/2 years of conflict.

At a news conference, President Omar Hassan al-
Bashir said his original agreement with the AU and
the U.N. was for a force made up of African troops,
backed up from logistics and technical units from
the UN.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSB34057920071123