Rwanda troops airlifted to start AU mission in Darfur
By Finbarr O’Reilly
KIGALI, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Rwandan troops were airlifted on Sunday to Sudan’s Darfur as the first foreign force there, mandated to protect observers monitoring a ceasefire between the Sudanese government and rebels in the troubled western region.
Some 154 Rwandan troops and military equipment were being sent to Darfur at the weekend as part of an African Union (AU) force. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on Saturday his soldiers would also intervene to protect civilians in danger.
Dressed in new, beige camouflage uniforms and green berets sporting AU badges, the troops made last-minute phone calls to friends and family from the airstrip before shouldering their backpacks and boarding two Antonov-12 planes as a military band played.
“This is the last departure, they’re all gone,” Rwandan government spokesman Joseph Bideri said after the planes left.
The United Nations calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and says 50,000 people have been killed and at least 1 million more displaced since two rebel groups took up arms against the government in February last year.
Rwanda says the world’s slow response to the Darfur crisis echoes its own experience during a 1994 genocide, and Kagame’s latest comments follow confusion over the exact powers and role of the troops being sent to Sudan.
“It gives us a sense of pride to be the first troops into Sudan after our own experience. We know the international community isn’t always there for Africans, so we have to be there for ourselves,” Rwandan army spokesman Colonel Patrick Karegeya told Reuters.
Rights groups and the rebels accuse Khartoum of arming Arab militias known as the Janjaweed – a term derived from the Arabic for “devils on horseback” – to loot and burn African farming villages as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The Sudanese government denies the charge, calling the Janjaweed outlaws. Khartoum has about two weeks to prove to the U.N. Security Council it is serious about improving the security situation in Darfur, or face unspecified sanctions.
NIGERIAN TROOPS
The Nigerian chairman of the ceasefire commission, Festus Okonkwo, said Nigeria’s soldiers would arrive in Darfur on Aug. 25, as part of a 308-strong contingent of troops, but stressed the Rwandans and Nigerians would have no peacekeeping mandate.
Okonkwo did not say exactly how many Nigerian troops would be sent, but it is expected to total about 150.
“Our mandate is to protect the observers. Protecting the population is out of our mandate,” he told reporters in the AU headquarters in El Fasher, the capital of Northern Darfur state.
“The humanitarian agencies that are working within the same areas, we give them protection.”
The Rwandan troops arriving later on Sunday would be deployed as soon as possible to protect 118 AU monitors currently in Darfur, he said.
Karegeya said the Rwandan troops were well prepared for Darfur’s tough conditions.
“Our troops have lived through the worst and seen it all, so they will not be shocked by anything they encounter in Darfur,” he said, adding that Rwanda’s role in Sudan could counter much of the criticism it received for invading the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1996 and 1998 to root out rebels.
A Dutch plane flew Rwandan supplies and several armoured personnel carriers and crew to Darfur on Saturday. The Dutch government is funding the airlift of troops to Darfur. (Additional reporting by Nima Elbagir in Sudan)