Africa Union plans to double troops in Sudan’s Darfur region

By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Mar 21, 2005 (AP) — The Africa Union has started drafting plans to double the number of peacekeeping troops in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, a senior official said Monday, responding to United Nations’ calls for more security in the region.

The 53-nation block already has about 3,000 troops in Darfur, where fighting between government-backed Arab militias and African rebels has resulted in the deaths of more than 180,000 people, according to conservative U.N. estimates.

U.N. officials have repeatedly said more troops are needed to protect civilians in the area the size of France. On March 7, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was possible that U.N. peacekeepers could complement African Union troops now in Darfur, where more than two million people have fled their homes.

In early February, a U.N. panel found evidence of crimes against humanity there. U.N. agencies have begun pulling staff out of some areas because of threats by the Arab militias.

“We have to do this because of the conditions on the ground,” said the AU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We are looking at 6,000 troops.”

AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare appealed earlier this month for African nations to provide more peacekeepers for hotspots on the continent. He told journalists the AU wanted to deploy extra troops to Darfur as well as in Ivory Coast and Congo.

But Konare said that while African nations are willing to offer troops, the international community must be willing to provide logistical support.

An AU mission returned from Darfur on Friday where it carried out an assessment on troop numbers. Officials expect to release details of the assessment later this week.

Currently the AU has around 3,000 peacekeepers in the region as part of a US$220 million (A?165 million) a year peacekeeping mission, largely funded by the European Union.