The President of Sudan, Omar al-Beshir, has again voiced his strong opposition to the deployment of international forces in Darfur, labelling the move an attempt at foreign occupation.
By
AFP

Source:
AFP
21 Jun 2006 - 12:00 AM  UPDATED 22 Aug 2013 - 12:18 PM

"The right question should be: why should international forces come into Darfur, what are the reasons for such an intervention?" Mr Beshir asked.

He was replying to a journalist’s question about his opposition to foreign forces at a joint press conference he held in the capital, Khartoum, with South African President Thabu Mbeki.

"The UN Security Council decided on deployment of international forces in Darfur under Chapter Seven after we have reached a peace agreement that has ended a crisis the West has branded as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," said Mr Beshir.

"We know everything, we know their agenda, we have our own bugging and monitoring systems through which we ascertained that those forces are coming with a colonial agenda, they are coming not for keeping peace but to remain in Darfur as forces of occupation," said the Sudanese president.

"There is no person in the world who tolerates the occupation of his country," Mr Beshir said. He said that the UN Security Council should have consulted the Sudanese government before making its resolution.

Mr Beshir said claims that the African Union can not continue with its mission in Darfur because of lack of finance are unacceptable.

Mr Mbeki said the AU should continue discharging its mandate in Darfur while the UN assists in a way that is acceptable to the Sudanese government.

He dismissed a suggestion that he had paid the visit to Khartoum to convince the government of Beshir to accept deployment of international forces in Darfur.

Mr Mbeki said he and other AU leaders would approach international donors to persuade them to honour pledges they made at Oslo to finance the AU force in Sudan.