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LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday urged the world to get tough with Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, saying troops should be sent into the country to stop chaos in Darfur from spreading.
Defending Britain's role in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Blair said global leaders had to be prepared to intervene wherever they thought security was being threatened.
"I would today take a far tougher line on Sudan," he said in an interview with Sky television. "I don't think we are able to send troops in but I certainly think the international community should be."
"I think it should be saying to the Bashir government: 'If you're not prepared to comply with what the United Nations is saying, we're going to get progressively harder with you.'," said Blair, who is expected to step down in a few months after a decade in power.
Britain and the United States are increasingly frustrated by Sudan's refusal to accept a joint force of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003 and more than 2.5 million displaced by the conflict.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15139979.htm
Defending Britain's role in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Blair said global leaders had to be prepared to intervene wherever they thought security was being threatened.
"I would today take a far tougher line on Sudan," he said in an interview with Sky television. "I don't think we are able to send troops in but I certainly think the international community should be."
"I think it should be saying to the Bashir government: 'If you're not prepared to comply with what the United Nations is saying, we're going to get progressively harder with you.'," said Blair, who is expected to step down in a few months after a decade in power.
Britain and the United States are increasingly frustrated by Sudan's refusal to accept a joint force of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003 and more than 2.5 million displaced by the conflict.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15139979.htm