African force in Darfur far too small, UN envoy says

LONDON, Aug 18 (AFP) — The United Nations’ top envoy in Sudan said an African peacekeeping force deploying in Darfur was too small to carry out its mission in the vast, devastated Sudanese region, in comments published Wednesday in the Financial Times newspaper.

“What has been decided now on the basis of the action plan (for Darfur) in all these areas cannot be monitored effectively with the present African Union (AU) force,” Jan Pronk said.

Pronk called for “thousands” of observers and supporting forces to deploy in Darfur, where a rebellion launched a year and a half ago was met with a brutal reprisal by the government and Arab militias backed by Khartoum.

The UN envoy spoke late Monday, as a UN fact-finding team was assessing the African Union’s capacity on the ground to monitor Sudan’s compliance with a UN Security Council decision demanding it restore order in Darfur.

About 120 AU observers have been sent to Darfur — an rough arid region roughly the size of France — to gauge Sudan’s compliance with the UN demands, including the disarmament of the Janajweed militia.

The AU peacekeepers are mandated with protecting that mission. But the full scale of the AU mission remains unclear, with only 150 Rwandan soldiers in Sudan and Nigeria still undecided about whether to send 150 or 2,000 soldiers.

“We have to test lots on the ground. We can test with our own people, but we do not have enough. We need many more observers,” Pronk told the Financial Times.

Nigeria warned last week that if Sudan did not accept the African peace plan it would have to face tougher action from outside the continent, while the UN Security Council has threatened as yet unspecified sanctions if Khartoum does not take action by the end of the month.

But Khartoum has rebuffed any large-scale deployment, stressing it will take the lead in restoring stability in the troubled region.

The United Nations estimates that between 30,000 and 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan’s armed forces and the Janjaweed militia cracked down on minority tribes backing a rebellion. The government disputes this figure.

Another 1.2 million people have fled their homes in Sudan and up to 200,000 more have been settled in makeshift camps in neighboring Chad, by UN count.