Beshir warns West over Darfur as he skips African summit
Monday, 2 July 2007
ACCRA, July 1 (AFP): Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir Saturday warned the West not to botch the handling of the crisis in the troubled southern region of Darfur as it did in Iraq.
Speaking to journalists via a satellite link from Khartoum, Beshir, who is skipping the African Union summit following the death of a close adviser in a car crash, said the West has hyped the crisis in the Darfur because of its interest in his country's oil reserves.
"The US wants to make mistakes in Sudan in exactly the same way it did in Iraq. They want to commit the same mistakes," said Beshir, who regularly accuses the West of seeking to topple his regime.
Even though he has finally backed down and accepted the deployment of a hybrid UN-led peacekeeping force in Darfur, Beshir claimed stability was returning to the region.
"We can say that most of Darfur's region's safe," he said.
"The situation on the ground in Darfur is improving. Now IDPs (internally displaced persons) are voluntarily returning to their villages," he added.
"Now crimes in Darfur are normal crimes such as robberies and police are trying their best to curb these," said the Sudanese president.
An under-funded and poorly-equipped African Union force of 7,000 troops in a region roughly the size of France has found itself increasingly overwhelmed and will be beefed up by UN forces.
African countries are expected to contribute more troops to the new force which is expected to be up to around 20,000 troops.
Speaking to journalists via a satellite link from Khartoum, Beshir, who is skipping the African Union summit following the death of a close adviser in a car crash, said the West has hyped the crisis in the Darfur because of its interest in his country's oil reserves.
"The US wants to make mistakes in Sudan in exactly the same way it did in Iraq. They want to commit the same mistakes," said Beshir, who regularly accuses the West of seeking to topple his regime.
Even though he has finally backed down and accepted the deployment of a hybrid UN-led peacekeeping force in Darfur, Beshir claimed stability was returning to the region.
"We can say that most of Darfur's region's safe," he said.
"The situation on the ground in Darfur is improving. Now IDPs (internally displaced persons) are voluntarily returning to their villages," he added.
"Now crimes in Darfur are normal crimes such as robberies and police are trying their best to curb these," said the Sudanese president.
An under-funded and poorly-equipped African Union force of 7,000 troops in a region roughly the size of France has found itself increasingly overwhelmed and will be beefed up by UN forces.
African countries are expected to contribute more troops to the new force which is expected to be up to around 20,000 troops.