Rwanda, US discuss Darfur force stalemate
March 17, 2007 (KIGALI) — President Paul Kagame yesterday met a senior US government official, and discussed the current diplomatic impasse over the future of peacekeeping operations in Sudanese Darfur region.
Though no details could be obtained after the president’s meeting with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, James Swan, it was officially confirmed that the two discussed the issue.
“They talked of what can be done by the US to stabilise the situation at our mission in Darfur,” Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Charles Murigande, who attended the talks, told journalists briefly after the meeting held at Village Urugwiro.
James Swan was in the country to attend the just-concluded two-day Tripartite Joint Plus Commission (TPJC) meeting which attracted delegates from participating countries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and hosts Rwanda.
The meeting comes after Tuesday’s disclosure by President Kagame that Rwanda would not hesitate from withdrawing her peacekeepers from Darfur if the mission remains unfunded and ill-equipped, problems that he said have left little results on the ground. He said the AU still has financial and logistical constraints to carry out sound peacekeeping operations.
“Our forces there are not ill-trained but they are ill-supported by those who are supposed to do so….if our presence there is not making a difference on the ground and not making any result as far as we are concerned, then I don’t see the purpose of remaining there,” Kagame told journalists.
He said that the government was still assessing the situation and consulting with its partners before making the final decision.
An estimated 2000 Rwandan troops form the backbone of the 7000-strong AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, where about 200,000 have died, four million in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and about 2.5 million others homeless.
The current stalemate in the peace mission hinges most on Sudan’s refusal to allow the transfer of the mission to a UN mandate.
Meanwhile, Swan saluted Rwanda’s role in building and maintaining peace not only in the region but also in distant countries.
“Rwanda has played a vital contribution in building peace and security in the region. This does not stop at her immediate neighbours but also in other countries for example in Sudan,” he said.
According to Murigande, the president also discussed with Swan the current standoff of Rwanda’s mission in Darfur, discussing what could be done to normalise the situation.
Kagame and the US diplomat also discussed the recommendations of the TPJC meeting, noting that there was a step further taken in the right direction, said Murigande.
(New Times)