Sudan still faces threats, despite peace in the South
Jan 16, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — Despite international efforts, resulting at least with a peace accord between the Khartoum government and rebels in the south, Sudan still faces threats on three fronts while suffering continuing violence in Darfur.
To meet the threats and to maintain peace where it has been reached, one of the largest U.N. peacekeeping forces has been proposed, of up to 20,000 troops. The African Union already has about 7,000 in the country.
AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, a former Malian president, warned of a paucity of funds to finance the mission that operated at a cost of $17 million a month.
“The funds received so far under the enhanced Assistance Mission in Sudan are almost exhausted,” he said. “At present, no commitment has been made by partners for the funding of the mission beyond March 2006.”
Five African peacekeepers and two civilian staff have been killed by unknown gunmen in the last four months.
Jon Pronk, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative for Sudan, briefed Friday the Security Council on the southern success and how it is threatened. He also brought the panel up to date on the continuing strife in Darfur. He also served notice of threats in Sudan’s east and south, but this time from the Lord’s Resistance Army based in Uganda.
Pronk’s narrative came a day after Annan set in motion a robust U.N. operation in Sudan to pick up where the AU leaves off. He said such action was necessary because of the time needed to get a U.N. program up and running by the time the AU no longer can handle the situation.
“The killings are going on, the rapes are going on” in Darfur, Annan told reporters last Thursday, adding security was lacking for those internally displaced and for humanitarian workers.
“We have lost access to some of the needy people, and we have had to remove some of our own staff from the area” where the 3 million people were being fed.
“What we need to do is to find a way of improving security — immediate improvement in security — working with the AU forces,” he said.
“They need support, logistical and financial support, to be able to strengthen security on the ground,” Annan said. “Both parties are actively attacking people in Darfur, and the rebels have to take the negotiations very seriously in Abuja,” Nigeria.
Annan believes the Security Council, “where necessary, will take immediate action to help redress the situation.”
But, in the meantime, the AU forces’ funds are limited.
“They have resources until March,” he said.
So the possibility of the United Nations working with the AU to address the situation is being considered, Annan said. “We can only get involved once the African Union mandate has ended.”
Then the question will be, when does the United Nations go in and that is the reason for the contingency planning.
“Even if we were to take over, we cannot do it by March, so there will be a lead time, and we should not have a gap between the two forces,” Annan said.
He said the force would be structured differently, making it more mobile, from the present AU model.
Annan said it would need “tactical air support, must have helicopters and ability to respond very quickly, so it would be a different type of structure. And we will need very sophisticated equipment, logistical support, and I will be turning to governments with capacity to join in that peacekeeping operation if we were to be given the mandate.”
That indicates he would be looking to Europe and the United States, among others, despite Khartoum’s insistence on only African forces.
“We need to get the Government to work with us in bringing in an expanded force with troops from outside Africa,” he said.
The U.N. Security Council has tried for a year to end the violence in Darfur, disarm the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia, end impunity and find a political solution.
Pronk advocates between 12,000-20,000 peacekeepers and called for enforcement of sanctions in Sudan.
Pronk said that though the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of the Sudan and the Southern People’s Liberation Movement/Army remained firm, many in the South have become suspicious about the government’s lack of transparency in reporting the oil revenue that is supposed to be shared.
Added to that issue are suspicions in the North that the SPLM does not want to promote national unity as it prepares for the referendum on separation scheduled for six years after the CPA was signed, he said.
“The government in the North should do everything to make this attractive. It can do so by guaranteeing a fair share of power, resources and income to the people of the South for expenditure and investment in water, schools, jobs, agriculture, housing and health care for all those people who were deprived of these decades along.”
“Where is the peace dividend?” Pronk asked.
Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants have yet to begin in the South, Pronk said.
He said without support, expectations of the population in the south would not be met and tensions between various ethnic groups may be exacerbated.
On the unrest in eastern Sudan Pronk said, the government and rebel movements there had agreed to start discussions leading to peace talks facilitated by the United Nations in the third quarter of last year, but afterward the world organization was sidelined.
Parties agreed to Libya as a facilitator, but talks have yet to start.
On the western front, beyond the violence of Darfur, ongoing since 2003, the Security Council president for January, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga of Tanzania, told reporters Chad alleges rebels or deserters from its army have crossed into Sudan and have been given sanctuary there while “continuing to cause problems” for Chad.
However he said the panel has not yet received Sudan’s version of the issue, but tensions have risen between the two countries, he said, resulting in a negative effect on the Darfur negotiations.
(UPI)