UN-AU team opens talks on Darfur troops
June 10, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Senior United Nations and African Union officials opened unprecedented talks in Khartoum on Saturday, part of a long and painstaking process to convince the government to accept UN peacekeeping troops in Darfur.
An ill-equipped 7,000-strong AU mission is monitoring a shaky truce in Sudan’s remote west. Unable to prevent attacks and running out of cash, they have asked for a UN takeover of the struggling mission, a move Khartoum rejects.
“The United Nations never imposes itself on any country,” UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno told reporters after the joint team met Foreign Minister Lam Akol.
“All our peacekeeping operations in Africa are deployed with the cooperation of the host country.”
Guehenno’s heading of the joint U.N.-AU technical mission was unprecedented, UN officials said. His counterpart in the African Union, Said Djinnit, headed his delegation.
Sudan rejects UN transition in Darfur, painting the picture of a Western invasion that would attract jihadi militants. Al Qaeda Islamist Ayman al-Zawahri on Friday criticized a “spineless” Khartoum for even allowing the assessment mission to enter Sudan.
But analysts say Sudan really fears UN troops may be used to arrest officials or militia leaders likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating war crimes in Darfur.
DARFUR VISIT
Akol said military and other technical experts from the team would be leaving for Darfur on Tuesday. Asked if the Sudanese government’s position had changed, he said: “Any decisions of any sort will be taken after that,” referring to the team’s trip to Darfur.
The joint mission will return to Khartoum for further talks after visiting Darfur. The mission, which arrived on Friday, is expected to last around 18 days.
The UN Security Council on its first visit to Sudan a few days earlier was unable to convince President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to accept a UN mission.
Tens of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes during more than three years of rape, pillage and killing in Darfur after a revolt began in 2003, triggering revenge attacks which have been branded genocide by the United States. Khartoum denies the charge.
Rebel groups had accused the Arab-dominated Khartoum government of neglecting the region.
Akol said the joint team could not tell Khartoum what the mandate and aim of a possible UN mission in Darfur would be until after they had visited the region and assessed what was required.
But the United Nations would have to move fast. The AU has a mandate only until September 30 and is struggling to find funds to sustain the mission until then.
Asked if the AU mandate could be extended, Djinnit said it was too early to say. “It depends … how soon the United Nations will be ready to take over … once all the conditions are met for that mission to take over the African mission in Sudan (AMIS),” he said.
The mission’s more pressing role is to assess what extra the AU needs ahead of transition to help implement a May 5 Darfur peace deal. It will likely send at least 3,000 more troops.
“It has to do with what needs to be done as a matter of urgency for AMIS to be able to perform its responsibilities,” Djinnit said of the team’s visit.
“It has huge responsibilities to maintain peace and to help in the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement,” he said.
The AU-mediated deal was signed by only one of three main Darfur rebel factions at negotiations. Thousands of Darfuris have demonstrated almost daily against the deal and attacked the AU, frustrated at their inability to protect them from attacks.
(Reuters)