Sudan faces escalating world pressure in coming weeks to reverse its dogged opposition to the dispatch of a large UN force in war-torn Darfur where UN officials are warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis, writes ReliefWeb.
Spearheading the pressure is Washington, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warning Friday that “time is running out” to prevent an all-out Sudanese government onslaught against die-hard Darfur rebels.
“The violence in Darfur must end, and it must end now,” she told a special ministerial meeting of two dozen nations plus the European Union and the United Nations in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The meeting notably mulled sending one or more delegations to Khartoum in yet another bid to persuade President Omar al-Beshir to drop his opposition to deployment of the UN force.
Last month, the Security Council approved the dispatch of a 20,000-strong UN contingent to replace an ill-equipped and cash-strapped African Union (AU) force which has failed to end more than three years of violence sparked by a revolt among Darfur’s mostly black African population.
But Beshir remains defiant, charging that the UN force was part of a “Zionist” plot to “dismember” his country and “plunder” his abundant resources, particularly oil.
Kilde: www.reliefweb.int
