AU objects non- African troops in Darfur – UN
September 21, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Not enough countries have contributed to the peacekeeping force in Darfur and the African Union is blocking some of those who have, diplomats said on the eve of a high-level meeting on Sudan on Friday.
Ministers or their deputies from 26 countries have been invited to the late Friday session, chaired by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare to analyze U.N.-A.U. plans for a joint force in Darfur, energize peace talks and expand aid to more than 2 million people expelled from their homes.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, said earlier this week the force still needs specialized helicopter, transport and logistical units.
While African nations have offered enough infantry troops for the force of up to 26,000 troops and police, some of them are without proper equipment.
Consequently U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that soldiers would have to be found from other nations. But Konare had raised objections to some units, including those offered by Norway, Uruguay and Thailand.
Touching on the conflict, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters, “We understand that the character of the force has to be African but (it’s) a UN-AU force,” with U.N. member states footing the bill.
“It has been understood from the beginning that there will be complementary non-African forces and capabilities available to complement the predominantly African character” of the force,” Khalilzad said.
“But I think right now the African Union secretariat needs to move,” he added.
HUMANITARIAN CRISES
The agenda also includes a report from U.N. and A.U, mediators of peace talks between the Sudan government and rebel groups, scheduled for Libya on Oct. 27 in hopes of a cease-fire before the planned force is fully deployed.
The peace conference would seek to end a conflict that has generated one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and sparked U.S. accusations — dismissed by Sudan — of genocide. Much of the killing, rape and looting has been blamed on a government-allied militia known as the Janjaweed.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and over 2.5 million have been made homeless in Darfur since an uprising against alleged government neglect of the region flared in 2003. Khartoum puts the death toll at 9,000.
But one item not on the agenda is how to get Sudan to turn over two men charged by the International Court with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Khartoum has refused to do so.
“I am concerned that the silence by most states and international organizations on the subject of the arrest warrants has been understood in Khartoum as a weakening of international resolve,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court’s prosecutor told a news conference on Thursday.
“Justice in Darfur must be on the agenda, at the top of the agenda,” he said, adding that one of those charged, Ahmad Harun, was now senior official for humanitarian affairs.
“As peace talks and negotiations for the deployment of the hybrid force advance, there is a resurgence of violence around the camp,” Moreno-Ocampo said. “I have reasons to believe that it is an operation in which Ahmad Harun plays a key role.”
(Reuters)