Peacekeepers a “Drop in the Ocean” – But Welcome Nonetheless
By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, June 14, 2004 (IPS) — Rebels in south Sudan have welcomed the United Nations’ weekend decision to send a peacekeeping mission to the country to monitor agreements that would end Africa’s longest running civil war.
But, they believe a more substantial UN presence is needed – and one with a stronger mandate to stand its ground in trouble spots. “We do not want a situation like in Sierra Leone, Liberia or Congo where UN peacekeepers fold their arms or run away when there is an attack,” Barnabas Benjamin Marial, the representative in Southern Africa of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), told IPS in a telephone interview.
A few weeks ago, UN troops watched helplessly as rebels attacked and overran the eastern town of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is emerging from a five-year civil war.
Under UN regulations, the activities of peacekeepers in Africa and elsewhere are often circumscribed by something known as a Chapter Six mandate. This refers to the chapter in the UN Charter which lays out some of the options available to the organisation in resolving disputes. The Chapter Six mandate may allow peacekeepers to use force to protect people who are in imminent danger, while a Chapter Seven mandate allows for a greater degree of military intervention.
“We need both Chapters Six and Seven. These will enable the UN troops to play a dual role of monitoring and enforcing the peace in Sudan,” said Marial, who is based in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare.
More than two million people have died in south Sudan since the latest round of conflict erupted there in May 1983.
“Our people have suffered for 50 years. We don’t want them to suffer again,” said Marial, referring to the civil war – which first broke out in 1955. A peace agreement signed in 1972 provided a ten-year interlude of calm.
However, hopes of an enduring peace have now been raised – this after the SPLA and the Islamic regime in Khartoum signed several peace protocols in the Kenyan town of Naivasha last month, and earlier this year. These accords deal with the sharing of Sudan’s oil revenues and devolution of power to the country’s various regions, amongst other matters. A comprehensive peace agreement is expected to be concluded before the end of the year.
The protocols laid the ground for the UN to endorse unanimously on Saturday (Jun. 12) the creation of a UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will now lead efforts to plan the size, structure and mandate of the operations.
“We want the UN peacekeepers to ensure the survival of the agreement. Maybe the Sudanese army, which appears unhappy about the peace process, may decide to seize power in Khartoum and say they don’t recognise the Naivasha agreement,” Jada Y, the chairman of the Sudanese community in South Africa, told IPS.
“This is the time when the role of the UN peacekeepers will become very, very crucial.”
Some 36 pro-government militias and political groups operate in the south, according to John Joh of the University of South Africa, based in Pretoria. These militias could also complicate efforts to entrench peace in south Sudan if the SPLA fails to bring them on board after the peace agreement is implemented, he warns.
Apart from overseeing the two-year withdrawal of most of the 193,000 Sudanese government soldiers from the south, the UN troops are also expected to help train the new 24,000-strong military that will include government and rebel soldiers. This force will be based in south Sudan.
All of this will be done in challenging conditions. “Since creation, there has never been any tarmac road in southern Sudan, an area the size of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi put together,” SPLA leader John Garang said in a speech delivered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Jun. 6 – a copy of which was made available to IPS.
“The net enrolment rate in primary schools is only 20 percent, with about 80 percent of those (in school) having no benches to sit on…Only seven percent of the teachers are trained,” Garang added.
“Besides, at least three out of every four adults are illiterate, and (only) one of every ten female adults is literate. The level of access to an improved water source is only 27 percent, and there is only one medical doctor for every 100,000 persons.”
Egypt, India, Yemen, Norway, Germany and other states have expressed interest in contributing troops to the UN mission in Sudan where, military analysts estimate, 10,000 peacekeepers are needed. But, “Our feeling is that 10,000 troops will not be enough,” said Marial. “It’s just a drop in the ocean…We will encourage the United Nations to send more troops.”
Marial said the list of countries that will contribute troops will be discussed by the SPLA and Sudanese government when they resume talks in Naivasha on Jun. 22.
With help from mediators, the two groups will identify countries who could be invited to assist, before forwarding their choices to the UN Security Council, he told IPS.