European support lacking for Darfur mission -UN

September 19, 2007 (PARIS) — The head of U.N. peacekeeping operations said in an interview published Wednesday that he fears a shortage of helicopters, trucks and other transport equipment for a new U.N. force in Darfur.

Jean-Marie Guehenno also criticized a shortage of support from Europe for a 26,000-strong force for the troubled Sudanese region, and said the U.N. will have trouble mustering the police force it wants.

“It’s true that there aren’t a lot of offers from Europe at the moment,” Guehenno told Le Monde newspaper. “The Nordics are ready to commit, but we don’t have concrete proposals for high-level engineering units – to dig wells, for example -or for transportation.”

The U.N. and the African Union have led months of difficult talks with Sudan’s government on deployment of the joint AU-U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur, which was finally approved July 31.

“We’ve received offers for most of its elements,” Guehenno said. “But we’ll have to see if these troops will have the needed equipment, especially for the first important waves to set up the mission without delay.”

“What worries me the most is the lack of tactical transport, trucks, helicopters,” Guehenno said. He also said the U.N. will have trouble meeting targets for an estimated 6,000-strong police force.

The peacekeeping chief also said that a recent upsurge in violence and splintering of rebel movements was a cause for concern, saying that raised the need for a robust force in Darfur.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir Tuesday to commit to a cease-fire in Darfur, warning that the upsurge in fighting could damage negotiations to take place in Libya next month aimed at ending the four-year conflict.

The fighting has claimed more than 200,000 lives and uprooted more than 2.5 million people.

(AP)