Sudan to UN envoy: Leave in three days
More than 200,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict
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Sunday, 22, Oct 2006 06:33
The Sudanese army has given the UN representative in Khartoum 72 hours to leave the African country.
Jan Pronk has had the three-day deadline imposed on him after being accused of violating international law by discussing "sensitive issues" concerning Darfur.
Mr Pronk is believed to have contacted UN secretary general Kofi Annan, leaving the decision as to what to do next in his hands
The envoy wrote on his personal web log last week that the Sudanese army had suffered defeats in the disputed region of Darfur, described by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
In an entry posted on October 14th Mr Pronk said that the government's troops "lost two major battles, last month in Umm Sidir and this week in Karakaya", adding that "the losses seem to have been very high".
"Reports speak about hundreds of casualties in each of the two battles with many wounded and many taken as prisoner," he added.
The Dutch politician goes on to say: "The morale in the government army in north Darfur has gone down. Some generals have been sacked; soldiers have refused to fight. The government has responded by directing more troops and equipment from elsewhere to the region and by mobilising Arab militia [Janjaweed]. This is a dangerous development. Security council resolutions that forbid armed mobilisation are being violated."
Janjaweed militias are accused of committing atrocities against Sudan's black Africans, with Khartoum so far resisting UN pressure to allow peacekeepers to resolve the three-year conflict, which has seen more than 200,000 lives lost and about 2.5 million people displaced.
Earlier this year the UN passed a resolution for 20,000 troops to be sent to Darfur to replace the 7,000 African Union troops.