Sudan 'blocking peacekeepers over war suspects fear'

The main Sudanese opposition leader says the government is refusing to allow UN peacekeepers in Darfur because it knows the UN troops would help hunt down war crimes suspects for the International Criminal Court.

Former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi said Khartoum’s other reason for rejecting UN forces was that it still believes it can defeat the Darfur rebels with its militia.

In an interview in Cairo, al-Mahdi challenged the government’s official line in the stand-off with the UN Security Council, which is that it supports the May peace accord and that UN forces in Darfur would constitute a “colonialist” attempt to subjugate the country.

The chief external spokesman of the Information Ministry in Khartoum denied al-Mahdi’s allegations.

Bakri Mulah said the government is “not resorting to a military solution” and seeks to solve the Darfur problem “through negotiations.”

The charge that the government fears UN forces would assist the ICC process is “false,” Mulah said. “The government has nothing to hide.”