A senior United Nations official said Thursday the Sudanese government has been able to reject the proposed deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur because the United States and Britain have not done enough to sell the idea to countries around the world.
Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown credited President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the lead role they have taken in highlighting the suffering in Darfur. But he gave them low marks in their efforts to persuade countries to pressure President Omar el-Bashir to accept U.N. peacekeepers.
Speaking to a gathering at the Brookings Institution, Malloch Brown said pressure must be applied to African and Asian nations to convince el-Bashir to change course. The United Nations wants to deploy 20,000 troops and police in Darfur but el-Bashir has been inflexibly opposed.
Malloch Brown said el-Bashir may be resisting out of concern that deployment of U.N. peacekeepers could lead to the arrest of Sudanese officials indicted by the International Criminal Court.
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