Germany “irritated” about US wish for NATO intervention in Darfur

HAMBURG, Germany, July 25, 2005 (Der Spiegel) — If the United States has its will, a massive intervention by NATO is to put an end to violence and expulsion in the province of Darfur in western Sudan.

German soldiers enter a Transall C-160 cargo plane at the military airbase Penzing, 50 kilometers (28 miles) west of Munich, southern Germany, on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2004. (AP).

The federal government is irritated about the US advance – after all, only troops from Germany and other European countries are to be deployed.

The Americans want to keep their own forces out of the mission. Washington is exerting pressure, because the establishment of an African Union peacekeeping force is not making any progress.

However, Berlin sees not so much the misery of the victims of expulsion as a reason for the US urging, but rather US interest in the undisturbed development of Sudanese oil fields.

For the time being, NATO plans to hold only an “exercise” in Darfur, to show officers from African countries how an international operation must be executed.

Last Wednesday 20 July defence experts from all Bundestag groups gave Defence Minister Peter Struck (Social Democratic Party of Germany) the go-ahead to send two German staff officers to Darfur.

Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service.