CAIRO, Egypt – Arab countries have launched a new effort to push Sudan toward a compromise over U.N. peacekeepers for Darfur, offering to dispatch a force of Arab and Muslim troops to the troubled region, diplomats said Sunday.
At least 200,000 people have died and about 2 million have been displaced since the start of a 2003 revolt by rebels from Darfur’s ethnic African population. The Sudanese government is alleged to have responded by unleashing militias known as the janjaweed against villagers.
Fears the tensions could spread were highlighted this weekend when Sudanese soldiers crossed the border into eastern Chad to fight a group of Darfur rebels, leaving more than 300 people injured, an aid worker said Sunday.
The Arab League diplomats said Sudan’s president rejected the initial proposal – as he has all suggestions of a U.N.-affiliated contingent, regardless of the makeup – but promised to suggest an alternative soon, in a sign that the Arab effort might show more promise than Western attempts to stop the humanitarian crisis.
“The situation is deteriorating and needs intervention,” said Hesham Youssef, a top aide to the league’s secretary-general, Amr Moussa.
But Youssef said the Arab negotiators believed the world community and the United States should also be flexible.
“The Americans should realize that there should be a compromise,” he said.
The proposal asked that Sudan accept thousands of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, at first to join the current African Union peacekeeping troops, with the possibility that they could later shift under a U.N. mandate, the diplomats said.
African-Arab nations such as Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania already have small contingents operating in Darfur with the African Union peacekeeping troops.
Youssef said he expected the counterproposal “within days.”
“We expect that the ideas will be closer to what is being circulated,” Youssef said.
The two sides are still far apart, however. And it was unclear how much leverage the Arab countries – close neighbors and supporters of Sudan’s Arab-dominated regime – have or how strongly they intended to press.
Concerts for Sudan
The online hangout MySpace.com will organize 20 concerts, including two in Washington state, featuring bands promoted on its site as part of a campaign to raise awareness and money for humanitarian relief in Sudan.
The Oct. 21 concerts will take place in Seattle and Spokane; Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco; Melbourne and St. Petersburg, Fla.; Atlanta; Louisville, Ky.; St. Paul, Minn.; Reno, Nevada; Baltimore; Asheville and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Medford, Ore.; Philadelphia; Charleston, S.C.; Milwaukee; and Washington, D.C. A Canadian show will take place in Toronto.
Citizen Cope is scheduled to play in Seattle, and Gov’t Mule is scheduled to play in Spokane.
Associated Press
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