African Union to bolster peacekeeping force in Darfur

Sept 24, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The African Union plans to increase its peacekeeping force in Darfur and boost the soldiers’ role as it extends its mission in the region while the international community pressures Sudan to accept a U.N. takeover, AU officials said Sunday.

The under-funded and ill-equipped AU force has had little effect in halting violence in Sudan’s remote Darfur region where at least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million made refugees over the past three years.

The AU mission was scheduled to wrap up at the end of September and be replaced by a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, but Khartoum fiercely opposes such a move and the AU has announced it will stay on until at least the end of the year.

AU leaders are finalizing a decision to add some 1,200 new troops to the existing 7,000-strong force, officials said. Even more soldiers could come if NATO provides adequate material support, and if the Arab League and other international donors secure funding, the AU officials said.

The Arab League recently backed Sudan’s opposition to the Aug. 31 U.N. Security Council resolution that plans for some 20,000 U.N. troops to take over peacekeeping in Darfur.

Monique Mukaruliza, the acting head of the AU mission in Sudan, said new troops and gear would be necessary to boost the AU’s role until the U.N. reaches a compromise with Khartoum.

“We are being asked to assume a broader and broader mission, but we need the means to do so,” she told AP.

AU peacekeepers also intend to broaden their rules of engagement so they can protect civilians more efficiently in Darfur.

Under their new “concept of operations,” peacekeepers would not only monitor violence and investigate incidents, but also actively intervebe to prevent attacks on civilians by the multiple rebel groups and pro-government militias that plague the region.

The AU’s spokesman in Sudan, Nouredinne Mezni, said these new operational rules would enable peacekeepers to better implement the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May between Khartoum and the main rebel group.

“With our current resources, we don’t really have the means to fully implement the peace agreement,” Mezni said.

(AP/ST)