Bashir Speaks to GA & AU to Stay Until End of Year

Yup, apparently it’s true. Let’s hope it’s final and that they don’t change their mind this time. I don’t have to be on the edge of my seat anymore (until the end of the year that is).

Sudan Watch has more. (God bless you for your blog, Ingrid)

The African Union said Wednesday it will extend the mandate of peacekeeping forces in Darfur through the end of the year. - AP 20 Sep 2006.

The AU is extending AMIS after receiving promises of financial support from the United Nations and Arab states. - SBS 21 Sep 2006.

Extra troops are expected to come from African countries, with further logistical support from the UN and financial help from the Arab League. - Aljazeera 20 Sep 2006:

Yes, at least what I’ve been wishing for is finally happening even if it’s temporary. Also Qatar has made a contribution of 2.3 million dollars.

Photo: In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, George Bush, the US president, called the Darfur killings a genocide and said the AU force is “not strong enough” to protect the victims. He called for the force to be strengthened and demanded the UN take control.

Photo: The Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir at the UN General Assembly in New York. He walked out halfway through a meeting of the African Union Wednesday and when a reporter asked if the UN could send troops to Darfur, he shouted “No!” - AP 20 Sep 2006.

He shouted “No!” ey? Clearly he’s pretty stressed out I say keep pressuring him just for the fun of it.

British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, who spoke to participants in the ongoing meeting, told reporters that Bashir was strongly criticized by other African leaders. “Apparently they gave him quite a pasting,” he said.

Andrew Natsios, the new US special envoy for Sudan, said Wednesday the administration has begun a quiet effort to enlist Arab countries in its campaign to overcome Sudanese resistance to the deployment of 20,000 UN peacekeepers and police to Darfur. - AP 20 Sep 2006.

It looks like that effort is already paying off. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday discussed with Bush the need to deploy a UN force in Darfur. On the way back, Bashir stopped in Cairo to check what the hell was going on.

The BBC’s world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says that the key issue is not so much whether the force is a UN one or an AU one, but whether the AU can operate with a tougher mandate allowing them to shoot if things get tough - which is how UN peacekeepers operate. He says if that happened, then the money and management support needed to run a successful operation could be forthcoming and the diplomatic impasse could be resolved. - BBC 20 Sep 2006.

UN SRSG Jan Pronk says Darfur peace deal needs fresh discussions to be effective. Mr Pronk called for new consultations on the DPA to include those groups that did not sign the deal, although he warned against this being labelled as the “reopening of the peace negotiations.” “The UN does not deserve the insinuations from Sudanese political leadership in power. We do not intend to recolonize, nor are we laying a carpet for others to do so,” Mr Pronk said. - UN.org/noticias.info 19 Sep 2006.

I say that the DPA is dead. We need a new one. The current one is becoming useless. All relevant parties and tribes must come to an agreement or else long term peace will not be possible in Darfur.

Sometimes, I just get so tired of waiting to see major positive steps being taken. Maybe next time I should stand here instead of Omar al-Bashir.

Or sit here instead of Kofi Anan.