UN force in South Sudan still running late

Mar 15, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — U.N. deployment of a peacekeeping force of nearly 10,000 troops in southern Sudan is still running behind schedule but should be largely completed by the end of March, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The report comes as the United Nations prepares to send troops to Sudan’s western Darfur region later this year.

U.N. officials warn that their ability to deploy peacekeepers in Darfur, as in the south, will depend on governments’ willingness to assemble the needed troops and equipment at a time supplies of both are extremely tight.

The African Union, which already has some 7,000 peacekeepers in troubled Darfur, voted last week to extend that mission through Sept. 30 but also affirmed in principle its intention to eventually hand off to a U.N. force.

Sudan’s government and southern rebels reached a peace deal ending two decades of civil war in January 2005, and the Security Council approved a peacekeeping mission for the south two months later. It has been slowly deploying ever since.

But government-backed militias still attack civilians in Darfur, where a second conflict still simmers despite peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.

Sudan’s government says it does not want U.N. troops in Darfur until a peace agreement is reached there, as well.

The U.N. force in southern Sudan now includes 7,697 U.N. soldiers, or 78 percent of an expected contingent of 9,880 peacekeepers from 66 countries, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a progress report to the U.N. Security Council.

While deployment is expected to be “largely completed” within two weeks, some critical units are yet to be in place, including Russian and Pakistani aviation units, three land mine clearance units, most of a promised Kenyan contingent and support units from China, Annan said.

Heightened security concerns on the ground south of Juba and limited numbers of available vehicles and barges are contributing to the delays, he said.

(Reuters)