Darfur desperate for peacekeepers
By Peter D. Bell – The Journal-Constitution
Dec 8, 2005 — Unless a strengthened peacekeeping force is put in place in war-torn Darfur, Sudan, thousands more Sudanese may perish over the coming months.
Since early 2004, humanitarian agencies have engaged in an all-out effort to save lives and reduce suffering in Sudan and neighboring Chad. But progress is now being reversed by elevated violence and insecurity, and humanitarian workers are increasingly at risk.
Two million people forced to abandon their homes because of the conflict rely on food assistance. CARE has distributed food to some 350,000 people every month and has supported water, sanitation and health services for displaced persons in camps and urban areas in South and West Darfur for nearly two years.
Such distributions have helped cut malnutrition rates among children under age 5 from 21.8 percent in 2004 to 11.9 percent in 2005. During the last two months, however, security has deteriorated to such an alarming degree that aid agencies are finding it ever more difficult to provide assistance. We may soon face disastrous consequences.
The breakdown in security is due to many factors, including continued political instability, the fracturing of the two main rebel movements, and the dramatic increase in banditry along main transit routes.
According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, insecurity has significantly reduced humanitarian access.
The African Union mission in Sudan is made up of almost 7,000 soldiers, far too few to help stabilize such a large, conflict-wracked region. Insufficient financial and human resources severely undercut the mission’s effectiveness. It is tragic that Congress recently turned down a request for $50 million to boost the African Union presence.
The international community must urgently do all it can to help stabilize the security situation before all humanitarian assistance becomes untenable. Specifically, a larger and more robust peace-monitoring or peacekeeping presence in Darfur — whether under African Union or United Nations auspices — is absolutely essential.
Long-term stability and security in Darfur will ultimately depend on all of the contesting forces there reaching a political agreement. For now, however, the only way to avoid an ever-worsening catastrophe in Darfur is to ensure the immediate deployment of a stronger peace-monitoring or peacekeeping force. There is no time to waste.
* Peter Bell is president of Atlanta-based CARE USA.