Western powers press for a resolution of the Darfur crisis even as Sudan and other Arab states counsel caution, writes Gamal Nkrumah "We believe the world has a responsibility to respond to what this government has called genocide," warned US President George W Bush. Sudanese authorities, on the other hand, are doing their best to resist this pitch. Bush administration officials have been issuing statements indicating their inclination for direct military involvement in Darfur. "The United Nations should not wait any longer to approve a blue-helmeted force, a UN force of peace-keepers to protect innocent people," said US Special Envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir retorted that Sudan has to draw the line against Western intervention in order to defend its territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Al-Beshir decried the "imperialist policies" of what he described as Western "crusaders". This week, Natsios, former head of the US Agency of International Development (USAID), was granted an entry visa by the Sudanese authorities. His stated mission was to support the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in the Nigerian capital Abuja earlier this year. Be that as it may, the tone of Washington's officials is steadily hardening. "What is going on in Darfur cannot be tolerated," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned. "We need to work urgently to have the government of Khartoum accept what is now a UN Security Council resolution," Rice stressed. Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani, leader of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and head of the umbrella opposition grouping the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said that Sudanese opposition forces are also against foreign intervention or the internationalisation of the Darfur crisis. He called for greater participation by Arab countries in resolving the Darfur question. Even as the Sudanese government and opposition forces signal their objection to foreign intervention, UN officials have toned down their criticism of Sudanese authorities and have made reconciliatory moves. "The UN is prepared to provide the African Union (AU) mission that is keeping peace in Darfur with the necessary assistance in consultation with the government," said UN Special Envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk. The UN official stressed the paramount importance of Sudanese government consent. "The matter is left in its entirety with the Sudanese presidency to decide," Pronk explained. Meanwhile, there is a consensus among Arab leaders that the Bush administration is blowing up the Darfur question for ulterior motives. There are "exaggerations over the exact situation in Darfur," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa declared during a visit to the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The Arab League and Arab countries have, however, expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Darfur. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) stated that violence prevented food aid from being distributed to the most needy of displaced people in Darfur. The escalation of fighting, the WFP warned, prevented food aid from reaching 355,000 people in Darfur and that the number of displaced people has tripled over the past four months. "How terrible it is for us as humanitarian workers not to be able to deliver effective protection to internally displaced people in Darfur because of the prevailing security circumstances and the massive violations of human rights," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterras lamented. "It is very important in the present environment, where so much intolerance prevails in so many societies, to make sure that people in need of protection are effectively granted (it," Guterras explained. Qatar, the only current Arab League member of the UN Security Council, has resolved to undertake mediation efforts. The Sudanese government has also enlisted the support of Libyan mediatory efforts. Oil-rich Libya, Africa's wealthiest nation per capita, recently donated $4.5 million to the WFP to help feed people in Darfur. However, the WFP needs $746 million for its emergency operation in Sudan. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 1706 on 31 August pressing for the deployment of more than 20,000 international peace-keepers in Darfur under the auspices of the UN, as opposed to the current 7,500 AU peace-keeping forces. Despite the pitched battle going on at the political level, there is a considerable segment of Sudanese society that approves of foreign intervention in Darfur. "The majority of the Sudanese people know that the government is opposing the UN because it is afraid of losing power," veteran Sudanese journalist and editor of Monitor, an independent Sudanese English language daily, Alfred Taban told Al-Ahram Weekly. " Sudan's president gave his approval last week for the UN to give logistical support to AMIS -- the African Union Mission in Sudan. The Sudanese government acknowledges that the overstretched AU peace-keeping force is inadequate. "Instead of reconciliation and the building of trust, we are witnessing intensified violence and deeper polarisation. The region is again on the brink of a catastrophic situation," warned outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "Civilians in Darfur continue to suffer the consequences of persistent violence and insecurity," Annan added. "We cannot compromise on the issues of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan," Abdul-Mahmoud Abdul-Halim Mohamed of Sudan's permanent mission to the UN told the Weekly. He acknowledged, however, that there was a humanitarian crisis in war-torn Darfur. "Dispatching foreign troops will not end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. It will aggravate it. Sending food aid and humanitarian relief supplies will make a tremendous difference."
