Sudan Warns Britain That Intervention Could Turn Into Another Iraq

British troops are welcome to enter the Darfur region, Sudan's foreign minister said yesterday, but they would rapidly find themselves in an Iraq-like situation.

Responding to a British newspaper report suggesting that Tony Blair was considering options to send troops to the region, Mustafa Ismail said his government was willing to withdraw from Darfur.

"We will give him the chance if he can give security to Darfur," Mr Ismail said in Paris.

But he said British soldiers would be considered by the people of Darfur as "occupying forces" after a few months and could face the same kind of attacks as in Iraq.

Mr Blair sought to calm speculation that the Government was planning possible military intervention, describing reports as "premature".

After the Cabinet discussed Darfur, where a year of fighting has killed an estimated 10,000 people, he refused to rule out sending troops. But he stressed that the Government was not at that stage yet.

Mr Blair told his monthly press conference that Britain had a "moral responsibility" to tackle the crisis in Darfur.

He held talks last night with Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, about providing assistance for monitoring a ceasefire.

But Mr Ismael's warning about peacekeeping forces being seen as an occupying force will reinforce doubts in Whitehall about becoming involved. British forces are already heavily committed in Iraq and other troublespots.

Mr Blair said the Government "ruled nothing out". But there was no point in intervening unless Britain had clear support in the region.

"What is happening there is unacceptable," he said, "and we have a moral responsibility to do what we can."

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, indicated that a limited number of troops could be sent as part of a European Union peacekeeping operation.

Mr Straw will visit the region next month to see the relief operation and assess the efforts by the Sudanese government to rein in the militia groups that it sponsors.

The violence started when rebels rose up in February 2003, prompting a brutal crackdown by Sudanese forces and affiliated Arab militias.

UN officials say Janjaweed militias have carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans, with reports of systematic rape.

The refugees are being helped by international aid agencies and donations from abroad. So far Britain has given more than £63 million.

Britain, France, and America are among countries demanding that the Sudanese government disarms the militias and allows aid to reach the displaced populations. But peace talks foundered.

Mr Straw said Britain and its EU partners were discussing sending "a joint EU civilian and military team".

"We have not ruled out the possibility that any such mission there could include people with military expertise. But they would not be there as part of a military mission," he said.

Britain is also working with America to get the UN Security Council to pass a new resolution on Sudan. A draft resolution is circulating in New York, but it does not yet have the support of all 15 council members.

This would set a deadline for Sudan to co-operate fully with the international community in restraining militias and helping aid agencies.

Mr Straw played down the possibility of the UN authorising force. But he added: "It is not something that you would want to rule out.

"The Arab militia are still attacking villagers as they leave the camps. The Sudanese army are at best passive, and at worst complicit.

"For the peacekeepers to be effective, they need the Sudanese government to stop the fighting. That's why we need to send a very strong message to Sudan."

Mr Blair is concerned that the crisis could turn into a massacre similar to that in Rwanda during the 1990s.

In his speech to the Labour Party conference in 2001 he highlighted the state of Africa which he said was "a scar on the conscience of the world".

"If Rwanda happened again today as it did in 1993, when a million people were slaughtered in cold blood, we would have a moral duty to act there," he said.

Ministers acknowledged that there was considerable concern about Darfur. "There's a sense that we can't allow this to be our Rwanda," said one ministerial source.

"Blair would not forgive himself if, in a few months, time, there were real massacres in Sudan."

Sudan accepts Blair's five-point peace plan
Guardian ^ | 10/07/04 | Patrick Wintour

Posted on 10/06/2004 7:24:33 PM PDT by Pikamax

Sudan accepts Blair's five-point peace plan After two hours of talks and a warning on sanctions, Khartoum agrees to give African Union troops freedom of movement in Darfur

Patrick Wintour in Khartoum Thursday October 7, 2004

The Guardian

Sudan bowed to a five-point plan tabled by Tony Blair during talks in Khartoum yesterday, which included accepting the free movement of 3,500 African Union troops as ceasefire monitors in Darfur province. Mr Blair also urged Sudan to return its troops to barracks and accept a deadline of December 31 for an agreement on devolution for the south of the country. He hopes this will serve as a model for peace in Darfur.

Mr Blair held two hours of talks with Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, during which he warned that the EU and US were willing to go to the UN to impose sanctions.

Privately, the prime minister believes the west will know by the end of the year whe- ther Sudan is serious about honouring its commitments.

Attacks by militia linked to the Sudanese government have led to the displacement of 1.4 million people from Darfur and as many as 50,000 deaths. Khartoum says it has no control over the militias but Mr Blair's plan implicitly questions this.

He said yesterday: "All of us have watched with concern and alarm at the death, disease and destruction that has come to Darfur. It is imperative that the people of Darfur realise the international community is determined to assist them in any way that it can."

Mr Blair won Mr Bashir's agreement to the expansion of the African Union's force in Darfur to monitor the ceasefire negotiated in April between rebels and the government.

The force will, in Mr Blair's words, ensure "that we get the correct information on what is happening, including ensuring the Sudanese government's full cooperation".

Sudan has also agreed to identify the location of its troops and those of any militia under its control.

Mr Bashir also accepted that Sudanese troops would return to their barracks. This would allow them to be replaced by police as refugees returned to their homes.

Mr Blair urged the Sudanese government to resolve the separate long-running dispute in the south by the end of the year.

He said such an agreement would have a knock-on effect on the dispute in Darfur and set the terms for a settlement in the western province.

"It will meet justifiable demands for greater devolution whilst making it clear the territorial integrity the country is preserved," he said.

The Sudanese also agreed, as before, that humanitarian aid would be allowed to move through Darfur freely.

Mr Blair ruled out the deployment of British troops but said that Britain was willing to provide logistical support to help expand the African Union's military contingent.

He said: "We don't need these forces in several months time, we need them now. We will help them get there as quickly as possible."

He characterised Khartoum's commitments as "the beginnings".

"They have to follow it through in practice. We cannot have a situation in which thousands of people are dying," he said.

Sudan's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said his government had been put under no pressure from Mr Blair.

"Rather he expressed his concern and Britain's concern and the concern of the international community about the situation in Darfur," Mr Ismail said.

"And we share this same concern. The conditions in Darfur are not normal."

Mr Blair urged the rebels in Darfur to stick to their commitments. Khartoum has pointed to statements from UN officials claiming that the rebels have attacked Sudanese positions.

Mr Blair has been struck by the vehemence of the American administration's anger at the Sudanese government, partly based on the belief that it is black Africans who are being attacked by an Arab-led government.

His hopes for a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year may prove optimistic, because the insurrection in the south has lasted more than 20 years and the Sudanese have ruled out offering self-rule in Darfur.

Sanctions, still an option for the UN, would cripple the Sudanese government, which depends on oil production to keep the economy afloat.

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