Now the rebels do not want the Chinese peacekeepers anywhere near them! This will make the process much more difficult. And as i noted before, the fact that the UN Peacekeeping force still does not have any rapid deployment or heavy equipment (such as APC's, transport and gunship helicopters) means that the coverage of a country the size of western europe with hardly few thousands will be a joke.
Read and wonder!
KHARTOUM - A major Darfur rebel group said yesterday that freshly arrived Chinese peacekeepers were not welcome and would be considered as Khartoum’s allies in Sudan’s war-ravaged western region.
China, which is the biggest buyer of Sudan’s oil, has been accused of shielding Khartoum - accused of fanning the violence in Darfur - from international sanctions.
"Our position is clear, the Chinese are not here for peace and they must leave immediately," Justice and Equality Movement commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Asher told AFP by telephone the day after more than 100 Chinese engineers arrived in Darfur.
"Otherwise, we will consider the Chinese soldiers as part of the government forces and we will act accordingly," said Asher, who is also a brother of JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim.
The Chinese arrived as part of the vanguard of a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission to be in place next year. A total of 315 Chinese engineers are expected in Darfur.
The 26,000-strong force is due to begin peacekeeping operations in Darfur early next year, tasked with ending nearly five years of bloodshed.
The force of mainly Africans will replace an under-funded and ill-equipped 7,000-strong African Union force that has served since 2004.
All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!
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