African Union says vital to maintain Darfur presence

Dec 14, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The presence of African Union troops in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region is needed more than ever despite a “black week” for the embattled force, the AU mission’s spokesman said Thursday.

“Imagine for one moment the vacuum that would be created if the troops left Darfur,” Nureddin Mezni said.

The 7 000 African military observers in Darfur experienced one of their worst periods since being deployed in the vast arid region of western Sudan two years ago.

As civil violence escalated in Darfur, 10 AU personnel who had arrived in a village of West Darfur state to investigate killings were briefly held hostage by an angry crowd.

The next day, a mob accusing the AU of not doing enough to prevent the bloodshed tried to overrun an AU base, forcing armed personnel to respond with gunfire that resulted in two deaths.

The same day, two members of the AU mission in Sudan were captured by gunmen. Their fate remains unknown.

“We have experienced a tough few days but it should be accepted that we work in a hostile environment,” Mezni said.

The small contingent was the AU’s first-ever foreign peacekeeping deployment but it has been under-funded and has failed to stem the four-year-old violence in Darfur.

Only a few months ago, the AU itself was calling on the United Nations to dispatch a robust peacekeeping force that could replace the embattled AU observers.

A UN Security Council resolution was passed to that effect in August but Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has consistently rejected such plans, accusing the West of seeking to invade his country.

The AU contingent’s mandate has been extended until mid-2007 and a plan for a “hybrid force” of AU troops supported by the UN is currently being discussed.

AU sources in Khartoum admitted that the African body was facing huge financial difficulties, as pledges of Arab aid never materialised and Washington refuses to finance their operation.

(AFP)