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U.N. warned of Iraq-style disaster in Darfur

Khartoum: United Nations peacekeeping troops are heading for “Iraq-style disaster” in Darfur as long as talks between the government and rebel groups remain stalled and the U.S. maintains its hostile stance, Sudanese officials and regional experts warned on Wednesday.

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

“The U.S. says it is not against Islam but they lie,” he said. “If their policies do not change, they will destroy Sudan politically, diplomatically and economically and maybe through military intervention.”

Hasbo Mohammad Rahman, commissioner for humanitarian affairs in Darfur, accused the European Union of acting as a U.S. stooge. “The E.U. is rewarding the rebels for rejecting the [2006 Darfur] peace agreement by providing aircraft, money and arms,” he said.

Mr. 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.”

Growing Sudanese anger over the U.N.-A.U. operation coincides with renewed efforts in the U.N. Security Council to expedite the deployment, which the U.S. says Sudan’s government is hindering. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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