UNICEF calls for additional AU troops in Darfur

PARIS, France, Apr 11, 2005 (PANA) — UNICEF’s special envoy in the Darfur
region, Keith MacKenzie, on Monday urged the African Union’s (AU)
to increase its presence in the troubled western region of Sudan.

A Rwandan soldier belonging to the African Union Force patrols in El-Fasher, Sudan. (AFP).

“We appreciate the tremendous efforts made by the AU in the
monitoring of the cease-fire and the protection of civilians in
the Darfur.

“While the AU presence is very helpful, this is a vast area and
the AU has neither the resources nor the logistics to fulfil its
mission,” MacKenzie, who just returned from the region, declared
during a press conference in Paris.

“To protect the populations, the 2,500 AU troops presently in the
area should be brought to 8,000. This is a minimum to ensure the
security of civilians. Otherwise they would not be able to carry
out their mission,” he added.

MacKenzie explained that the presence of elements of the AU
civilian police in the transit camps has been a very stabilising
factor but there are over 150 official and spontaneous camps and
“it is very hard to attend to them with limited means.”

“The major challenge we are facing right now in the Darfur is the
protection of civilians. Because, even if people are safe within
the camps, they need to go out everyday to fetch firewood or
something else. In doing this, they face death, sexual violence
or any other form of violence,” the UNICEF special envoy
indicated.

The AU has over 2,500 soldiers in the embattled area to monitor
the negotiated cease-fire between the Sudanese rebel movements
and Khartoum.

Some 70,000 people have reportedly been killed since the conflict
broke out in February 2003. Over 1.6 million people are displaced
and 200,000 more have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad.