UN to support AU in Darfur, joint force unsure
Dec 27, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan agreed on Wednesday to allow a small number of U.N. troops to support a struggling African Union force in Darfur, with 105 soldiers and police due there by the end of January, an A.U.-U.N. statement said.
But it was still unclear if Khartoum had agreed to a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in the violent region of western Sudan, where 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the last four years.
“It was agreed that U.N. military and police officers will wear their national uniforms with a blue U.N. beret. In addition, they will wear an A.U. armband,” the joint U.N.-A.U. statement said.
This paves the way for 38 U.N. observers to deploy by the end of the year and the rest of the 105 during January, the statement said. The United Nations will also provide $21 million to the African Union, including computers, communications equipment and water tankers.
The Sudanese government had previously refused to allow any U.N. forces in Darfur. A separate U.N. statement said on Wednesday the government had also accepted a joint U.N.-A.U. force, but Khartoum remained unclear on this point.
Government officials spoke instead of a heavier support package to the A.U. from the United Nations, denying there had been agreement on a joint force.
“We have agreed on three phases of support from the United Nations to the African Union … financial, technical and personnel,” foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig told a news conference in Khartoum.
Asked if there was agreement on a joint force, three government ministers at the news conference said: “No.”
Al-Sadig said there was agreement on “a joint operation”, making it clear any U.N. personnel in Darfur would be working on computers or advising rather than peace enforcing soldiers.
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
But after launching an intense media campaign against U.N. troops being deployed to Darfur, the government is now believed to be trying to save face domestically by not giving in directly to international pressure to accept a joint force.
“After all this it is not easy for the government to say outright that it has agreed to this,” said a Sudanese observer who declined to be named. A senior European diplomat said he expected U.N. forces to be on the ground in “significant numbers” by mid-2007.
In a letter made public on Tuesday, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told the United Nations he endorsed a plan for a joint A.U.-U.N. force, but made clear he wanted a veto over its implementation.
Despite an A.U.-mediated peace deal in May, violence has escalated in Darfur after rebel factions who reject the deal renewed hostilities with the government in June.
Lacking equipment, logistical experience and funds, the African Union has failed to stem the clashes and its operations have been severely restricted by attacks on its personnel.
But Khartoum has rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution to deploy a 22,500-strong U.N. peacekeeping force to replace the A.U. contingent. A compromise position on a joint A.U.-U.N. force was adopted by the world body, but in public Khartoum has so far rejected this too.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003, accusing central government of marginalising the remote region on the border with Chad. To quell the revolt, Khartoum armed militia, who now stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage that Washington calls genocide.
Khartoum denies genocide, but the International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.
(Reuters)