The UN is making a difference in Darfur

By Rodolphe Adada, The Wall Street Journal

June 25, 2008 — A delegation from the United Nations Security Council recently witnessed the challenges facing the African Union/U.N. operation in Darfur (Unamid).

We are missing forces and the equipment needed to sustain them. Our mandated strength is 26,000, yet six months into our deployment we stand at less than 10,000. We are working to build the infrastructure needed to cope with our increasing troop strength. Our plan is ambitious: We aim to have deployed 80% of our forces by the end of the year.

We are not sitting on our hands waiting for the troops and material to arrive. I am proud of my peacekeeping forces who risk their lives daily to fulfill our mandate to protect civilians, improve security, facilitate humanitarian aid, and engage the parties to this conflict.

Every day our blue-helmeted peacekeepers carry out patrols right across Darfur, an area the size of Texas. They defend thousands of innocent Darfurians, such as women from the camps gathering firewood to cook meals for their families. One of the most disgusting aspects of this conflict has been the widespread rape of women by armed thugs on all sides. Unamid is carrying out more and more night patrols to increase this protection around the clock.

Critics say we are hunkered down, yet the facts speak for themselves: In January, when our mission began, we carried out 271 patrols. Last month, it was 644, or more than 20 a day.

Our peacekeepers intervene on a daily basis across the length and breadth of Darfur to calm tensions arising from cattle losses, water distribution and land ownership – issues at the heart of the conflict. These missions are critical, successful and welcomed by Darfurians, but they do not make international headlines.

Some of our more impassioned critics call on us to intervene more forcefully. I would remind them that Unamid is a peacekeeping force. We are here to keep a peace that doesn’t exist. It is the duty of the belligerents – and there are many – to make peace. As Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, our force commander, stated recently, even if we were at full deployment our peacekeepers are not here to stand between rival armies and militias engaged in full-scale combat.

The rebel movements have fractured into ever greater numbers. The peace process has stalled, and the parties still demonstrate a greater readiness to settle their disputes with guns than around the negotiating table. Whatever anyone tells you, there is no simple solution to Darfur. Still, we are engaging all parties. The imminent appointment of a new mediator will give renewed vigor to this process.

The word Darfur may conjure up uniform images of misery and insecurity. In fact, it’s a patchwork of different situations. There are many areas, such as swaths of North Darfur, which are relatively secure. We are determined to reinforce these gains. In other locations, such as parts of South Darfur, lawlessness and violence remain the order of the day, and we are acting there to calm tensions. Finally, there are some areas, particularly in West Darfur close to the Chad border, that are conflict zones. Here we continue to protect civilians and engage all parties.

In addition to helping to end the suffering of the last five years, Unamid represents a giant step forward for the African Union on the international stage, and an expression of the desire for African solutions for African problems. It is the first time the AU has partnered with the U.N. in what is destined to be the largest peacekeeping operation in the world. It cannot afford to fail. As I stressed to the Security Council members during their visit, patience is running thin here and local trust – essential for our mission to succeed – is on the line.

We will work to empower civil society, because the best hopes for peace lie with the traditional tribal leadership. We will expect the government in Khartoum to honor its responsibilities to protect all the citizens of Sudan, and to cooperate fully with Unamid. We will engage the movements, pushing them to commit to a peaceful settlement. Finally, we will encourage the international community to demonstrate equal resolve.

Together we can make a difference to the millions of ordinary, peace-seeking Darfurians. Here on the ground we have the resolution to succeed.

Mr. Adada, a former foreign minister of the Republic of Congo, is the Joint Special Representative of Unamid.