UN faces threats over Darfur plan

More than 2m people have been forced to flee because of the conflict

UN ambassadors in Sudan have met with strong opposition from tribal leaders to the deployment of troops in Darfur, including threats of holy war.

The UN wants to take over peacekeeping efforts in Darfur to help implement a recent peace deal signed between the government and the main rebel force.

But one tribal leader has threatened to call for jihad if non-African troops intervene in the war-torn region.

The conflict has claimed some 200,000 lives in the past three years.

Some 7,000 African Union (AU) troops are currently stationed in the war-torn western region, but they are under-funded and poorly equipped, and have struggled to contain the violence.

If a UN force is sent here, I will call for jihad Muwad Jalalabin Tribal chief

However, Khartoum has made clear that it would prefer the AU peacekeepers to be given more support rather than allow a UN force into the region.

UN officials have stressed they want to work alongside the Sudanese government and not take over peacekeeping efforts.

'Foreign occupation'

Tribal chiefs in Darfur have also expressed resistance to the idea.

"If a UN force is sent here, I will call for jihad," warned Muwad Jalalabin, chief of the Barty tribe.

Any deployment of non-African forces in the region would be considered as "foreign occupation", he told the reporters in el-Fasher, the main town in north Darfur.

Osman Kebir, governor of northern Darfur, also voiced opposition to the UN proposal, telling the Reuters news agency that the region needed humanitarian assistance but "not troops".

Their comments came as members of Security Council delegation toured Darfur and met with tribal leaders, relief workers and government officials over the proposal.

The 15-strong delegation, which includes envoys from the five permanent council members, arrived in Sudan on Monday in a bid to try and to persuade Khartoum to accept the plan.

Security concerns

Following talks in the capital, UN delegates travelled to Darfur but were forced to abandon plans to visit refugee camps in the area over security concerns.

Over 2m people have been been made homeless by the conflict and resentment in the camps is running high over a UN-backed partial peace deal signed on 5 May.

The UN delegation will on Saturday continue its 10-day tour of the region with a visit to Chad before heading to Ethiopia and finally the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sudanese rebel forces took up arms in February 2003, accusing the government of discriminating against Darfur's black Africans in favour of Arabs.

Since then, some 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced by the fighting.