AU-led mission heads to Darfur ahead of setting up ceasefire monitors

ADDIS ABABA, May 7 (AFP) — An international mission led by the African Union (AU) on Friday left for Sudan’s war-torn western Darfur region to assess conditions on the ground before it creates a commission to monitor a ceasefire that was clinched last month in neighbouring Chad.

“An AU-led reconnaissance mission traveled today to Sudan (Friday) to assess existing conditions for the establishment of the Ceasefire Commission (CFC)” in Darfur, the AU said in a statement.

“The mission — expected to last nine days — comprises civilian and military staff from the AU commission and a representative from the Chadian mediation. It also includes representatives from the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and France,” the statement added.

Darfur rebel leaders signed a ceasefire with Khartoum-backed militia on April 8 to halt fighting that erupted in February 2003 and, according to UN, has claimed at least 100,000 people and displaced up to a million others.

While in Darfur, the mission will travel to El Fasher, Nyala and Al Geneina and identify suitable locations for setting CFC’s accommodation camps, seek relevant information from the parties with respect to military and security issues as well as verify the accuracy of information regarding the camps where the internally displaced people are living, the statement added.

The mission is also expected to visit Abeche and Ndjamena in Chad, it added.

Last month, AU reached a resolution that called on the chairman of the AU commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, “to take urgent steps, including the dispatch of a reconnaissance mission to Darfur, to ensure the early setting up and deployment of the Ceasefire Monitoring Commission.”

Since it replaced the notoriously impotent Organisation of African Unity in 2002, the AU has placed much emphasis on the continent’s security and on developing a wide range of peacekeeping mechanisms, from military observer missions to robust forces that would intervene in the case of “grave circumstances” such as serious war crimes.