Armed AU force could deploy in Sudan’s Darfur by end of month

ADDIS ABABA, July 8 (AFP) — The African Union aims to deploy 300 armed troops to protect its observers and civilians in Sudan’s conflict-ravaged region of Darfur by the end of the month, AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said Thursday.

When asked when the force — first mentioned in late May in an agreement for the AU mission to monitor a shaky April ceasefire between Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups — would arrive in the western region of Sudan, Konare said, “I hope before the end of the month because time is running out.”

About 25 AU observers are on the ground in Darfur, where 15 months of conflict sparked when two rebel groups rose up against Khartoum saying their region was neglected have spawned what the UN has termed the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.

At least 10,000 people have been killed in Darfur, mostly by a feared militia allied to Khartoum. Another 1.2 million have been displaced, with more than 100,000 of them seeking refuge across the border in Chad.

Chad’s Foreign Minister Nagoum Yassoum had said earlier Thursday after a meeting of several presidents held on the sidelines of the AU summit that the AU will deploy an armed force to protect its ceasefire observers in Darfur “as soon as possible”.

Yassoum said the protection force will number 300 men and that the number of observers will be increased.

The presidents of Sudan, Chad, Nigeria and South Africa took part in the meeting on the sidelines of the summit, which was dominated by discussions on Darfur.