| "Hide the children, Martha! It's the UN!... Martha?" |
Sudan's former Southern rebels Friday welcomed a UN decision to send 10,000 peacekeepers to secure the peace accord they signed in January with Khartoum but contentious issues remain before the force is deployed. "We are very happy with the resolution but we are now going to have to work out all the details," said Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) spokesman Samson Kwaje.The UN Security Council on Thursday approved the deployment of 10,000 UN peacekeepers to shore up the January 9 peace agreement which put an end to the 21-year-old North-South civil war in Sudan, Africa's largest country. "We still have to look at the specific number of troops. There could be more, there could be less. Then there is the issue of the exact shape of the deployment and that of the nationalities involved," Kwaje said. "We are not happy with the present composition of the force," he stressed, in reference to countries considered by the rebels to be too close to the Khartoum government. Sudanese UN Ambassador Elfatih Erwa welcomed the vote but warned that imposing sanctions on Khartoum could impact the government's ability to keep the peace agreement on track. "Needless to say, he who asks the government to undertake all these important responsibilities cannot at the same time think of weakening this government or limiting its capabilities and capacities," he said. Among the countries which have expressed interest in sending troops are China, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Japan and Germany.