EU probing fate of EUR 282 mln earmarked for AU force in Darfur
July 10, 2007 (STRASBOURG, France) — The European Union is investigating why its multimillion-euro (dollar) contribution toward the African military force in Darfur is not reaching soldiers, leaving many without pay for months, officials said Tuesday.
The European Commission has earmarked A282 million (US$384 million) for the African Union since November 2004, and further funds have been provided by the individual EU member states.
The AU was supposed to pay the soldiers, but a recent EU fact-finding mission to Sudan’s war-torn western region met with widespread complaints from the troops, Spanish EU lawmaker Josep Borrell said.
“We’re in a situation which is very embarrassing. For months they have not received their pay. Some have not received any pay at all,” said Borrell, a former president of the EU assembly who led the four-day mission.
The AU mission in Sudan said the soldiers’ salaries have not been paid since February, but blamed the delay on administrative problems.
The AU force lacks the logistical means and trained staff to distribute the salaries and write reports to account for the funds in Darfur, a region the size of France where communications are difficult, said Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the mission.
“It’s a vicious circle,” he said, calling on the EU to simplify the paperwork so that the African soldiers could receive their pay faster.
The undermanned and underequipped 7,000-strong AU force has been unable to stop violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 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 was signed by the government and one rebel group last year. Other rebel groups rejected the deal and continued fighting.
The EU has sent two experts to find out what has happened to the funds sent to the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia and the management of the force in Nigeria, a European Commission official told The Associated Press.
“We’re aware of the complaints. Indeed, it is a serious problem,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“As far as we aware the money has not disappeared, we have received political assurances that this is not the case. What’s basically happening is a problem of management,” the official said.
A “hybrid force” of some 23,000 African and U.N. peacekeepers is to be deployed in Darfur to end the bloodshed. The Sudanese government for months resisted a push for the U.N. to replace the AU force, but finally agreed in June to a compromise deal for the U.N. to deploy jointly with the African Union.
Although the hybrid mission’s leadership is now in place in Sudan, the U.N. must vote on final authorization and nail down member state contributions before the force can be deployed.
EU officials said they did not expect the force to be operational in 2007 because it could take more than six months to get nations to commit troops and funding.
Borrell said the violence in Darfur has spiraled out of control.
“Everybody’s against everybody else, there’s bandit-ism, it’s impossible to move inland too much,” he said, adding that a military force capable of facing up the violence must be deployed as soon as possible.
(AP)