Honesty - Bashir Rejects Arab Peace Plan.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has turned down a proposal from Arab and Muslim states to send Arab forces to bolster the African Union's peacekeepers now in war-torn Darfur. But he promised to look into ways to let the UNSC play a role in dealing with the violence in Darfur - in a possible sign that a new push of Arab lobbying may be having some effect. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, who visited Khartoum recently, carried the proposal to Bashir in a fresh bid to break the stalemate over Sudan's rejection of a UNSC proposal to send peacekeepers to Darfur. The US has been heavily lobbying the Arab world to press Bashir to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur to stop the violence and provide humanitarian relief. Arab diplomats who accompanied Moussa said he suggested to Bashir that Sudan accept thousands of troops from Arab and Muslim states, to join the current AU force and then have that mission later shift to UN peacekeepers. Samir Hosni, who heads the African section of the Cairo-based League, said Bashir was still vehemently opposed to sending UN peacekeepers, but promised to look into Moussa's proposals. Hosni stated: "He [Bashir] said he will make an initiative soon. This is what he promised". Moussa's top aide, Hesham Yousuf, said Bashir promised to make his decision "within days", adding: "We except that the ideas will be closer to what is being circulating. The situation is deteriorating and needs intervention". Sudan has rejected any idea of allowing UN peacekeepers into Darfur, and has accused "crusaders" from the West of trying to take over the country.