African Union becoming a tool in the hands of Sudan in Darfur
By: Wasil Ali*
The African Union (AU) chief Alpha Oumar Konare did not disappoint me. He proved to me in no uncertain terms that the AU is working hand in hand with the Sudanese government to implement its vision of resolving the Darfur crisis. As I have said in a previous article “AU must recuse itself from the Darfur case- June 4,2007” that the AU is one of the main reasons why we still have a crisis in Darfur till this very day.
It is interesting to note that when the Darfur crisis erupted the Sudanese government objected to the presence of AU troops on its territory. Khartoum considered it to be a violation of its sovereignty as usual. Eventually they bent down to world pressure and accepted the troops that were meant to do nothing other than monitor ceasefire violations. Through time Khartoum became increasingly fond of the AU after it discovered that the latter agrees with Khartoum on virtually everything regarding Darfur.
In my opinion Konare has proven himself yesterday to be a man of questionable credibility following his statements he made after meeting with the Sudanese president. He made statements contrary to those of all military experts and UN peacekeeping officers that Africa will not be able to provide sufficient trained troops for the Darfur force. Yet he came out to say that Africa will provide all troops to make up the UN-AU hybrid force. Konare did not even provide the details of the countries that made these pledges. Did he consult with UN officials before making such a statement or was he simply trying to please the Sudanese government which has adamantly rejected non-African troops?
The Sudanese government was extremely quick to welcome Konare’s statements per the statements made by its foreign ministry spokesman Ali Al-Sadek to BBC service. There is a simple explanation for Khartoum’s excitement. The Sudanese government hopes that it can manipulate the new force so that it can as ineffective as the AU troops currently on the ground. This means that the new hybrid force may do little to protect the civilians from the Sudanese army and its Jinjaweed militias.
If I was blindfolded as I was hearing statements by the AU chief I would have said a Sudanese official was speaking. Konare said that “that the AU “will not allow the force [hybrid force] to be under any other command”. He warned any party of trying to take the command of the UN-AU hybrid force away from the AU. He urged the UN to do its part and provide the money to the African troops.
Is Konare trying to circumvent the UN resolution which states that command and control will be provided by the UN? The likely answer is that Konare wants to make Khartoum happy despite the fact that the UN is paying over two billion dollar for the whole operation. The AU wants the UN to simply provide the money and stay away from it. It was the AU that insisted to have command over the Darfur force during technical meetings despite failing miserably to manage whatever troops that they have in Darfur.
A good example of that was when the European Union (EU) was investigating why its multimillion-Euro (dollar) contribution toward the African military force in Darfur was not reaching soldiers. The AU said in a statement the soldiers’ salaries have not been paid since February, but blamed the delay on “administrative problems”. So we are talking about an organization that is unable to even disburse money to its own troops, a very basic function of any body.
On top of that the AU chief said that a conference in Darfur will be held in New York next month that will “will not be a continuation of the Paris conference” which was boycotted by Sudan and the AU. Did Konare really have to make this statement? What purpose did it serve other than depicting efforts by France in a negative manner? Again the answer could be found in Khartoum’s hostility to the Paris conference and Konare is simply echoing their position.
I want to remind the reader again that Konare did not make these strong statements in Addis Ababa or Accra or New York; He made it at the doorsteps of Sudan’s presidential palace in Khartoum after meeting with Al-Bashir. This is the key reason why I am writing this article today.
I am also very concerned at the fact that the political head of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) Rodolphe Adada was present at the meeting with Al-Bashir but did not make any statements to counter those of Konare’s. It almost seems that Konare has the upper hand in this while operation and not Adada. I personally find it a very disturbing matter.
At a time when Somalia is begging for AU troops, Konare tells the world that they have managed to recruit enough troops for Darfur. African nations provided only 1,600 out of the 8,000 forces need for Somalia. Perhaps the AU chief should explain to the world this contradiction and its failure to provide troops to Somalia. Being scared of Khartoum at the expense of the Darfuri people will not add credibility to the AU nor will it solve the crisis Mr. Konare.
* The author is a Sudan Tribune journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]