AU, Sudan signal differences over Darfur security
By William Maclean
ADDIS ABABA, July 8 (Reuters) – The African Union said on Thursday its troops will not stand idly by if civilians are attacked in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region but Sudan challenged the statement, saying it alone is responsible for such security.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell issued a fresh warning to Khartoum to stop Arab militias from attacking Africans to win what he called “the race against death” in Darfur, where the U.N. says the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding.
“If we don’t see that then the United States and the international community will have to consider further measures,” Powell said in a speech in Washington. He did not elaborate.
Darfur dominated a three-day meeting of leaders from 53 African nations, which ended on Thursday, and is seen as a test of the AU’s stated resolve to police the continent’s conflicts.
The AU, trying to win increased Western investment in return for ending wars and despotism and curbing corruption, said 300 soldiers already flagged to go to Darfur to protect 60 unarmed AU monitors would also protect civilians.
“These forces that are coming are to protect the observation mission but they cannot remain passive when faced with human rights violations,” AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters after the summit.
“We recommend that this force be deployed as quickly as possible and we really hope before the end of the month.”
SUDAN CHALLENGE
But Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said: “Sudan has no problem if you want to send protection forces but it is protection forces to protect the monitors. The protection of civilians is the responsibility of the Sudanese government.”
Political analysts said the summit kept the mandate deliberately vague so the Khartoum government did not lose face.
“They made a sort of secret compromise here,” said an AU official, declining to be identified.
After years of tension between nomadic Arab tribes and African farmers, two groups rebelled last year, accusing Khartoum of arming the Arab militias known as the Janjaweed. Sudan’s Islamist government denies the charge.
More than a million people have fled the fighting.
A U.S. State Department official said Washington was still receiving reports that Janjaweed attacks backed by government helicopters remained persistent.
“Those are reports that can’t be confirmed and that’s why it’s important for more monitors to get out there,” he said.
The Darfur mission would mark the AU’s only joint military deployment since it sent peacekeepers to Burundi in 2003.
The small AU force will attempt to patrol the overcrowded refugee camps and border areas between Sudan and Chad to check violations of a shaky ceasefire signed in April.
No one expects the force to provide more than token protection for civilians in an area the size of France. But any reports it makes on acts of violence would carry considerable diplomatic weight.
WESTERN CRITICISM
The African bloc has consistently supported Khartoum against Western criticism and diplomats said Sudan would be wary of alienating some of its most vocal defenders.
African leaders, including Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir, met on Thursday to discuss expanding the mandate of the force. Boosting the troop numbers also came under the spotlight.
“If they are not sufficient then we will reinforce them,” Chadian Foreign Minister Nagoum Yamassoum said.
The AU’s Peace and Security Council has urged Khartoum to “neutralise” the Janjaweed and prosecute anyone responsible for bloodshed but said the violence was not genocide, a term used by some human rights groups.
The Khartoum government welcomed that finding. Under international law, consensus among U.N. members on the existence of genocide requires them to prepare immediate steps to stop it.
Khartoum has agreed to attend AU-mediated Darfur talks in Ethiopia next week, but the rebels say they will not negotiate unless Sudan disarms the Arab militias and respects the truce. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom and Andrew Quinn in Addis Ababa; Saul Hudson in Washington)