Rights activists press Sudan to accept UN troops
Sept 14, 2006 (NAIROBI) — A coalition of civil society groups on Thursday called on the international community to exert pressure on Sudan to accept the UN mission to restore peace and stability to its volatile region of Darfur.
Speaking in Nairobi during a public forum, the Save Darfur Coalition, which includes about 170 religious, human rights and other groups, lamented that the momentum for peace is fast slipping away while Khartoum balks at a UN force.
The consortium’s Africa Affairs analyst Desire Yetsowou Assogbavi criticized the international community, especially the United States, the European Union and the African Union, for not doing enough to put pressure on Khartoum.
“Without force in Darfur, we cannot image the disaster which will engulf the Sudan. The African Union should speak with one voice in convincing Khartoum to support the UN mission,” Assogbavi told participants at the Nairobi forum.
“The African Union may keep its forces in Darfur beyond September 30 if Sudan refuses to allow them to become part of a UN peacekeeping operation,” he said.
Sudan has so far rejected a UN. Security Council resolution calling for the creation of a UN. peacekeeping force in Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have died and more than 2.5 million others have been displaced during a three-year conflict that has spawned a severe humanitarian crisis.
The coalition argue that momentum built up after the signing of a peace agreement in May between Darfur’s main rebel group and Sudan’s government is fast dissipating because of Khartoum’s reluctance to accept a UN force.
Assogbavi, a Togolese, said the civil society organizations are being mobilized to go to New York next week to voice their concern where the AU Peace and Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on the margin of the UN General Assembly.
“The AU troops should remain in Darfur until the UN peacekeepers are able to take over. A sudden departure will create a dangerous vacuum, which will be replaced by scaled up military activities,” he said.
On Sept. 18, the AU Peace Security Council is expected to decide on the future of the 7,000 AU troops in the face of ongoing military escalation of the crisis in Darfur, the recent UN Security Council resolution to sent 20,000 troops and the Sudanese government’s refusal to allow the UN mission to proceed.
David Mozersky, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the Darfur agreement was fragile and the prospect of a UN force not being allowed in would encourage more violence.
“This is a very serious situation and it requires action sooner rather than later. The UN force hopefully will be a solution to the security side. There has been no progress since the signing of the peace agreement in Darfur,” Mozersky said.
“This is the time for the international community to take action to restore peace and stability in Darfur. Darfur crisis is a man-made and there is a need for governments to put pressure on Sudan to accept UN mission,” he said.
A latest report by the Brussels-based think tank said the Darfur peace agreement had serious flaws and only an urgent, robust UN peacekeeping mission could save it.
Kenya’s former minister Kalonzo Musyoka who mediated the southern Sudanese peace agreement called on African leaders to recognize that the ongoing insecurity in Sudan’s strife-torn region is the continent’s major problem.
“African should recognize that Darfur conflict is Africa’s problem. I think that the north-south peace agreement signed in Nairobi last year offers the best solution in resolving the Darfur crisis,” Musyoka told the participants.
“It’s the obligation of the African Union, the United Nations to ensure that peace and security is restored in Darfur. African must rise up and resolve their own problems,” he said.
(Xinhua)