UN says deal reached to strengthen African force in Darfur
April 10, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — The United Nations, the African Union and the Sudanese government have reached an agreement to beef up the 7,000-strong African force in Darfur with U.N. troops, police and equipment, except for attack helicopters, the U.N. said Tuesday.
U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said a high-level technical meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday set the stage for deployment of the heavy support package for the A.U. force, including more than 3,000 U.N. troops, police, and other personnel as well as substantial aviation and logistics equipment.
The United Nations and Sudan agreed in November on a three-stage plan to strengthen the A.U. force, culminating with the deployment of a joint A.U.-U.N. force with 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers. But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has since backed off the deal, saying he would only allow a larger A.U. force, with technical and logistical support from the United Nations.
The first phase, a light support package including U.N. police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support, has already been sent to Darfur. The meeting in Addis Ababa on Monday focused on finalizing the second stage of the U.N. plan.
“The meeting finalized agreement on the U.N. heavy support package for AMIS with the exception of one element on which the Sudanese delegation is hoped to provide a positive and expeditious response,” Okabe said, using the initials of the African force. “The meeting also agreed to move forward expeditiously with implementation of the package.”
Acting U.S. ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States is trying to clarify “whether this is an unconditional agreement of acceptance of the deployment of the heavy package, or if there were conditions or clarifications that in the past have been used by the government of Sudan to slow this down.”
Okabe said the outstanding issue “involves tactical attack helicopters.”
The U.N. is hoping for “a positive and expeditious response” from the Sudanese government on the helicopters, hopefully before high-level consultations on Darfur at U.N. headquarters on April 16-17 hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
A.U. chief executive Alpha Oumar Konare and the two envoys trying to promote a political settlement of the four-year conflict in the western Sudanese region, the U.N.’s Jan Eliasson and the A.U.’s Salim Ahmed Salim, will be attending the meetings.
Last month, Sudan’s president sent a letter to Ban approving a very limited U.N. role in supporting A.U. troops in Darfur, objecting to helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft, reducing troop levels, and ruling out international police in towns and government-controlled areas.
But in late March, Ban and al-Bashir reached an agreement on the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to work out differences on the heavy support package at Monday’s meeting in Addis Ababa.
The question of a hybrid U.N.-A.U. force, however, remains problematic.
Hours before Ban and al-Bashir met, the Sudanese president sharply rejected any U.N. deployment in a speech to the summit, repeating his stance that the U.N. role must be limited to logistical and financial help for A.U. peacekeepers in Darfur.
Okabe said participants at Monday’s meeting recognize that continued international agreement “will be important to facilitate implementation of this package as well as preparations for the third phase of the A.U.-U.N. plan to enhance peacekeeping in Darfur, namely the hybrid force.”
Ban made clear last week that Monday’s meeting wasn’t to re-negotiate the heavy support package, but “to clarify” any problems. “We hope that through these consultative meetings, we will be able to deploy hybrid forces as soon as possible,” the secretary-general said.
The undermanned and underequipped A.U. force has been unable to stop violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.2 million forced to flee their homes in nearly four years of fighting between the government and ethnic African rebels.
The violence has only increased since a peace deal last year signed by the government and one rebel group. Other rebel groups rejected the deal and continued fighting.
Last week, the secretary-general urged the U.S. and U.K. to delay a push for tougher sanctions against Sudan because of the efforts to promote political negotiations and to persuade the government to accept the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.
Wolff said the council will be able to take stock after the Addis Ababa meeting, next week’s U.N. consultations, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte’s upcoming visit to Sudan, and “decide how to move ahead with other measures if necessary.”
(AP)