Darfur peacekeeping mission may last 10 years – general
March 13, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — International peacekeepers may have to stay in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region for up to 10 years before seeing a resolution to the conflict, the force’s commander said on Thursday.
“It could be 10 years,” the Nigerian army officer told Reuters by phone.
“There are so many factors that have to come into play. We have to have a peace deal. We have to go through a period of disarmament.
“If all these things happen quickly and everyone is committed to it, it could be a matter of two or three years. But if people don’t want a peace deal and people are not committed, we could be here for many years.”
The 5-year-old conflict in western Sudan has been plagued by delays on all sides.
Khartoum has been accused of impeding the deployment of peacekeepers, rebels have been criticized for failing to join peace talks, and the international community has been blamed for not providing necessary equipment and funds for the nascent U.N.-AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The UNAMID force has already faced a series of challenges since it took over from an undermanned group of African Union peacekeepers at the beginning of the year.
UNAMID officials on Thursday said there were two confrontations with Darfur’s warring parties in the past week.
On Saturday, Sudanese soldiers opened fire for more than 15 minutes when a UNAMID vehicle approached a government check-point close to South Darfur’s capital Nyala, UNAMID spokesman Adrian Edwards told Reuters in Khartoum.
“It was dark so it was unclear whether they were firing into the air or targeting anyone,” he added. “No one was injured and we received an apology from the local authorities.”
A day later, UNAMID officers had to cut short a meeting with rebels in the strife-torn Jabel Moun area of West Darfur, when they received reports of nearby fighting.
PEACE PLAN KEY
Rebel groups later claimed a government shell had landed close to a landing strip used by UNAMID. UNAMID officers, who flew over the area in a helicopter, saw an object near the strip but would not confirm whether it was a shell, said Edwards.
The main challenge facing the UNAMID force, said Agwai, was the lack of a peace agreement.
Current U.N./AU-led efforts to revitalize a failed 2006 peace deal have foundered on the refusal of several major insurgent groups to take part in negotiations.
One of those, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said it killed 22 government soldiers and captured 12 more in a clash with Sudanese troops 100 km (62 miles) north east of El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, on Wednesday afternoon.
If confirmed, it would be the latest in a series of clashes between JEM and government forces in the region along Sudan’s volatile border with Chad.
No one was immediately available from the Sudanese armed forces to comment on the claimed JEM attack.
The UNAMID force is currently at less than a third of its promised 26,000-strong strength, officials said on Thursday.
UNAMID’s Edwards said there were now more than 7,000 troops and 1,600 police officers in action, although new Egyptian contingents were expected to start arriving by month’s end.
“Everybody knows the story of the lack of resources and … the difficult logistical challenges of this mission,” said Edwards. “At the moment, we don’t have the helicopters we requested. But UNAMID is on the ground, it’s building itself and it is getting into business. … We are not waiting until full deployment to start working.”
The force’s first job, he added, was to build trust with displaced Darfuris by stepping up patrols in and around camps.
International experts say fighting in Darfur has killed 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes. Khartoum accuses the western media of exaggerating the conflict and puts the death count at 9,000.
(Reuters)