AU commission chairman urges UN force for Darfur
May 10, 2006 (COPENHAGEN) — The African Union commission chairman said Wednesday that a large U.N. peacekeeping force should be deployed quickly in Sudan’s Darfur region.
African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, who met Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen before a one-day conference on Africa here Thursday, expressed hope that the United Nations would decide on a proposed Darfur peacekeeping force soon.
“We need a massive and strong commitment without delay,” Konare said.
A peace agreement reached by Sudanese authorities and Darfur’s main rebel group last week in Abuja, Nigeria, could help end fighting that has killed has killed at least 180,000 people in three years and displaced more than 2 million.
The United States and other world powers are pushing for a force under the command of the United Nations that is double the size of the AU force there, but Sudan’s government has yet to agree.
The AU’s 7,200 peacekeepers, now low on funds, have largely been ineffective in stopping atrocities and re-establishing security, leaving tens of thousands of people sheltering in camps with little food or water.
Future U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur should include troops from several African nations, Konare said, adding hopes other rebel fractions would soon join the tentative peace deal.
“We understand that several rebel groups have differences (in opinion), but we hope they will join,” Konare told reporters.
“Let’s be clear, there is no military solution to this, the movements cannot win the war, just as the Sudanese government cannot settle this with arms,” he added.
Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark would provide assistance to reconstruct Darfur worth 200 million kroner (A27 million; US$34.5 million).
Besides Konare, other participants will include U.N.’s deputy secretary-general Mark Malloch Brown, Mozambique Prime Minister Luisa Dias Diogo and Tanzania’s foreign minister, Asha-Rose Migiro.
(ST/AP)