Sudan Says It Would Limit Scope of African Troops in Darfur Area
African troops would be allowed into the Darfur region to protect observers, but any peacekeeping must be done by Sudanese forces, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Saturday.
Ismail also said he had signed a pact with the United Nations pledging to set up safe areas for villagers displaced by fighting.
“We have to make a distinction between three categories: the presence of observers, the presence of protection forces for those observers and the presence of peacekeeping forces,” Ismail told reporters in Khartoum.
“We don’t have a problem with either the first or the second categories. As far as the third category is concerned ... this is the responsibility of the Sudanese forces,” he said.
The African Union has proposed sending up to 2,000 troops to Darfur.
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