West considering sanctions against Sudan ALEXANDRIA: A peacekeeping forum for conflicts in Africa ended Friday in Alexandria and was attended by Sudanese delegates. It was organized by the Cairo Center for Training to Settle Disputes and Keep Peace in Africa in conjunction with Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. The forum addressed various African conflicts and the role of peacekeeping forces on the continent, as well as the obstacles facing the successful implementation of peacekeeping forces in areas of conflict, according to Ambassador and Director of Information and General Diplomacy at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hesham Al Nagib. Khartoum's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem told a Reuters Newsmakers panel Thursday that the Sudanese government is willing to meet with rebel groups from Darfur to reach a unilateral ceasefire. He said, "I can assure you that the government will unilaterally observe a ceasefire, cessation of hostilities, today if they [the rebels] come to the negotiating table. Only one rebel group has signed a peace agreement, in Abuja in May 2006, but Abdalhaleem now claims that there are 19 rebel factions in Darfur. "We want to sit today with the non-signatories in any place, whether it s South Sudan, in Addis Abba, in Eritrea or in Libya. We want without any delay for these groups to unite or at least to come to the negotiating tables, the ambassador said. The Darfur conflict has seen the deaths of 200,000 people and the displacement of another 2 million since the conflict began in 2003. The UN ambassador disputed these figures, claiming fatalities were closer to between 9,000 and 10,000. The international community, led by the United States and Britain, are considering imposing sanctions at the UN Security Council on the Sudanese government unless they finally secede to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur. The Sudanese ambassador also struck out at the West over the peacekeeping forces saying "for many forces in the United States the issue is not Darfur, the issue is regime change. So please don t deceive people and tell them that you are very passionate and very concerned about Darfur. It is clear that Sudan's Arab neighbors do not support the international community's wishes to send multinational peacekeeping troops to help avert the crisis in Darfur. "A result of international peacekeeping forces is to reduce Egypt's role in Sudan, Nabil Abdel-Fatah from Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies previously told The Daily Star Egypt by way of explaining Egypt's reticence in accepting the idea of a multinational peace force. Additionally, "[Libyan leader Muammar] Qaddafi is funding many of the factions in the fighting, and so is the Sudanese government, Abdel-Fatah said. He added that "the Sudanese government is using the pressure from the international community to prolong the crisis, such as by denying the major transgressions of the government forces and the Janjaweed. On the other hand "the US and UK are using Darfur as a pretext to enforce their vision of Sudan. The UN and the West also want to prolong the crisis so as to introduce international peacekeeping forces, Abdel-Fatah said. "However, he added, "that is just a result of Al-Bashir's actions in marginalizing the problems in Darfur and the South.
