US Congress rebuffs Rice on Darfur troop funding

Dec 19, 2005 (WASHINGTON) — Congress rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s impassioned appeal to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan’s Darfur region, the State Department said on Monday.

U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers ends this year and the State Department is concerned that violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found to keep the mission going.

Still, despite the rejection by a Congress under pressure to keep spending down, the U.S. State Department said it would seek to find the money from other foreign aid programs for the Darfur mission.

“We are frustrated and disappointed. The AU plays an important role in Darfur,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

“We will work to reprogram existing funds,” he added. “The funding problem is not insurmountable.”

In letters sent last week to the heads of appropriations committees in both the Senate and House of Representatives, Rice wrote: “We are in critical need of funding to continue this mission at a robust level into 2006.”

“Taking immediate action to meet this unanticipated expense is of the highest priority,” she added.

The $50 million would have represented about one-third of the monthly cost for the peacekeepers. The European Union is responsible for most of the remainder.

The State Department had sought to convince Congress it needed to follow through on its vocal concern for the people of Darfur and provide additional funding for the peacekeepers.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million have fled their homes during the revolt in Sudan’s remote west.

The African Union has said its peace mission in Darfur faced a serious financial crunch with resources available for only a few months.

The AU troops and police are trying to stop escalating violence in the region. But those in charge say they lack the vehicles and communications equipment needed to operate effectively in a desert region the size of France.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when rebels rose against what they called their marginalization by the government in Khartoum. The government sent in Arab militias to put down the rebellion, but they have been accused of rape, looting and murder.

Last month, lawmakers stripped $50 million in U.S. funding for the troops from a foreign funding bill. The State Department failed to get the money reinstated via the defense appropriations bill.

(Reuters)