Sudan warns west of 'Iraq-style disaster' in Darfur

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Source: Guardian UK

UN peacekeeping troops are heading for "another Iraq or Afghanistan disaster" in Darfur as long as talks between the government and rebel groups remain stalled and the US maintains its hostile stance, Sudanese officials and regional experts warned today.

Speaking in Khartoum, the former foreign minister Hussein Suliman Abu Salih said Sudan suspected the deployment of up to 26,000 soldiers in a joint UN-African Union force was part of US plans to subjugate the country and overthrow its Islamic government.

"The US says it is not against Islam but they lie. If their policies do not change, they will destroy Sudan politically, diplomatically and economically and maybe through military intervention."

Hasbo Mohammad Rahman, the commissioner for humanitarian affairs in Darfur, accused the European Union of acting as a Bush administration stooge. "The EU is rewarding the rebels for rejecting the <2006 Darfur> peace agreement by providing aircraft, money and arms," he stated without further explanation.

Rahman also attacked western aid agencies' humanitarian efforts in the region, saying they lacked expertise and were a waste of money. "The NGOs are bringing Europe's unemployed here to work. We don't need midwives costing $40,000. We can employ 40 midwives for the same amount."

David Hoile, the director of the officially approved Europe-Sudan Political Action Committee, suggested that in the absence of a peace deal, the UN troops were walking into trouble.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/12/sudan/print