UN admits shortfall of Darfur peacekeeping mission
May 30, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) — The UN peacekeeping chief acknowledged on Thursday that Darfur peacekeeping forces are deployed without the necessary staff and equipments to fulfil its mandate.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, speaking at a news conference on the 60th anniversary of U.N. peacekeeping said that the killing this week of a Ugandan peacekeeper in Darfur proves the mission’s insufficient resources. He further regretted this habit of authorizing missions and pushing for their deployment while they are ill-equipped and unstaffed.
The Ugandan peacekeeper inspector John Kennedy Okecha was killed in his UNAMID vehicle on Wednesday May 28 on the outskirts of Zam Zam in North Darfur. He had been shot three times in the neck, chest and stomach.
Speaking to the journalists about Darfur Guehenno said “We don’t have the firepower that would allow us to do what we’re expected to do. And that’s very dangerous.”
The UN Security Council authorised 26000 troops to be deployed in Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur. However since January only 9200 troops are deployed there without the necessary equipments.
The head of the UN peacekeeping department expressed hope that in the future the Security Council would not give the final authorization for peacekeeping missions until they had lined up troop commitments.
“The U.N. has no standing army,” Guehenno said. “It’s not enough to authorize a mission, you have to give that mission the means to do the job,” He added.
(ST)