Little relief for Darfur seen from new peace force

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The people of Darfur are unlikely to see much change on the ground when the African Union makes what is seen as a largely symbolic handover to a joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping force on Monday, analysts say.

Lacking equipment, money and experience, the African Union’s first major peacekeeping effort has stalled in Sudan’s remote west, unable to protect itself let alone more than 4 million people in the region who depend on the world’s largest humanitarian operation.

Khartoum refused to allow a U.N. takeover of the existing peacekeeping mission and instead reluctantly agreed to a 26,000-strong AU-U.N. joint force.

But Khartoum has continued to throw bureaucratic obstacles in its way, delaying deployment of what will be the largest U.N. peacekeeping operation in the world, known as UNAMID.

Few are optimistic ahead of the formal handover to the joint force on Monday.

“Nothing is going to change — they are building on the same African Union forces,” said Ibrahim Mudawi, head of the Sudanese non-governmental organisation SUDO which works in Darfur.

There are currently around 7,000 troops and 1,200 police in the AU force with soldiers from Egypt, Pakistan and Ethiopia expected to deploy in the next two months. The final joint force should comprise 20,000 soldiers and 6,000 police.

The joint force’s commander, Martin Luther Agwai, said 20,000 troops was the bare minimum needed to secure the vast and chaotic area the size of France.

“How do you expect this force to do the job of 20,000 just because we are rehatting on December 31?” he said. “Let people look at December 31 as the day that the process (of change) will begin.”

Head of U.N. peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said the mission was in doubt because of obstacles from Khartoum, and rights groups urged the world body to sanction Sudanese leaders if they did not comply.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has refused non-African troops, delayed allocating land to the force in Darfur, demanded the right to disable the mission’s communications during “security operations” and refused night flights.

“The new hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur is being set up to fail,” said Human Rights Watch along with 34 non-governmental organisations.

“The Security Council has responded to this defiance with hand-wringing but nothing more, said Steve Crawshaw, head of U.N. advocacy at Human Rights Watch. “What will it take to make the Security Council act on Darfur?”

Rights groups have also criticised the international community — mainly Western nations — for refusing to provide 24 helicopters, which Agwai said were vital for the mission to function effectively.

“It’s inexcusable that the international community continues to stubbornly refuse to provide the helicopters UNAMID so desperately needs,” said Amjad Atallah from the Save Darfur Coalition.

(Reuters)