Canada has no military capacity for Darfur peacekeeping mission
Dec 30, 2006 (OTTAWA) — The commitment in Afghanistan has left the Canadian military with “zero” capacity to make a difference in Sudan, says the country’s top soldier.
Even if UN peacekeepers were deployed to stop the carnage, Canadians would not be among them, says Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff.
His comments in a recent interview came after the government of Chad – Sudan’s western neighbour – said it would welcome international troops.
The butchering of villagers and the burning of homes by mainly Arab militias has spilled over from Sudan, which has resisted calls for a UN mission.
Hillier said a UN force does not appear imminent and – even if it were – there’s not much Canada could do.
“Our capacity to do anything there on the ground with a land force is zero. It’s as simple as that,” he said in a pre-Christmas interview.
“We’re using every single part of our land forces to do the mission in Afghanistan while continuing to maintain appropriate readiness here at home for things that could occur.”
The Canadian army has 21,000 full-time and 15,000 reserve soldiers. About 2,500 at a time are deployed in Afghanistan on average six-month tours.
At the same time, other soldiers are either training, preparing for Afghanistan, resting from their previous deployment, enjoying family time, or on standby in case of a natural disaster or attack.
The head of Amnesty International Canada expressed skepticism that there’s nothing the Canadian military could do.
In Sudan and now in Chad, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or displaced in waves of ethnic bloodletting that show no signs of abating.
“The pace with which the international community – including Canada – has got its act together and begun to take meaningful steps forward has been abysmally slow,” said Alex Neve, Amnesty Canada’s secretary general.
“Canada shouldn’t easily say, ‘Sorry, we don’t have the people, we don’t have the equipment. Can’t do it.’
“At the very least we need to convince ourselves – and (the government) should be demanding this from the military – that every option has been considered.
“We could be contributing anything from 20 troops, to 2,000 troops or beyond.”
In fact, Canada has 25 military observers in Sudan.
It has also pledged more than $190 million since 2004 to the African Union mission there, and has provided military equipment, helped train African peacekeepers, and provided food, water, sanitation, and basic health care.
But after a recent visit to Chad, Neve said the situation screams out for more immediate and substantial help from the international community.
Neve described countless horror stories from locals about murderous hordes plowing their way through villages – and about how many of those killers were wearing Sudanese military uniforms.
The UN Security Council has proposed sending 20,000 troops to the Darfur region but the Sudanese government has only agreed to allow a much smaller African Union force on its territory.
Neve said the situation has not only erupted in Chad but is also spreading to the Central African Republic.
“Chad is very sadly now an absolute extension of Darfur. It’s not even just that it’s beginning to spill over, or starting to spread,” he said.
“It’s now deeply and firmly entrenched in Chad.”
Hillier pointed out that Canada is helping in Sudan. But he was adamant that there’s nothing further the Canadian Forces can do.
He said the problem isn’t just a shortage of manpower, but also of equipment, and of support staff like medical workers and intelligence specialists.
“We have no capacity to participate in a mission in Sudan other than what we’re doing now,” Hillier said.
“We’ve got some folks there that are helping train, we’ve got some aircraft that are leased there, and we’re helping the African Union become more capable is what we’re doing.
“But that’s the limit of our capacity.”
Hillier blamed the current shortages on how the military was “run down so much over this past decade and a bit” by major budget cuts in the 1990s.
The budget cuts have been steadily reversed but Hillier said it will take a few more years to recover.
The Canadian Forces are undergoing a major equipment overhaul and are scheduled for a further budget boost of $12.8 billion over the next five years.
(Canada Press)