Egypt favors African peacekeepers in Darfur

Jan 17, 2006 (CAIRO) — Egypt favors giving the African Union (AU) a chance to continue its peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s troubled Darfur, President Mubarak’s spokesperson said.

Rwandan troops sing and dance in Camp Kanombe, in Kigali, prior to flying to Sudan’s western region of Darfur in 2004.

“It is in the African Union’s interest to prove its ability to carry out its first peacekeeping operation. Its withdrawal would not send a positive message,” Suleiman Awad told reporters in Cairo.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, told the Security Council last week that the international community had failed in its mission to restore peace in Darfur.

He suggested dispatching a more robust UN peacekeeping force to replace or work alongside the almost 7,000-strong AU contingent, which has been suffering from poor funding and has struggled to contain ongoing violence.

“The African Union has asked for Egypt to increase its contribution to the peacekeeping force in Darfur and Egypt is ready to do just that,” Awad said.

“If we want to preserve the image of the African Union, the international community must continue its support for the AU and allow it to play its part,” the spokesperson added.

Khartoum has rejected the idea of a UN deployment in the western region and has sought to assert its right to choose who should be in charge of peacekeeping operations.

But the African Union itself has warned that, as a member of the African body’s Peace and Security Council, Sudan would have to comply with any AU decision to deploy UN troops in Darfur.

(ST/AFP)