U.N. Challenges All-African Force

Thalif Deen (IPS) - The U.N. Secretariat is challenging an implicit demand by the government of Sudan for an all-African peacekeeping force in politically-troubled Darfur.

The issue of force composition is "one of the lynchpins to the success" of the U.N.-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council Friday.

The government of Sudan, which insists on an African force, has already rejected troops from Norway and Sweden. At the same time, it has expressed reservations over military units from Thailand and Nepal.

But Guehenno wants the Sudanese government to, at least, accept troops offered by Thailand and Nepal.

The government of President Omar al-Bashir, however, has remained ambivalent over the composition of UNAMID.

"We urgently require a definitive decision from the government on the inclusion of Thai and Nepalese units," Guehenno said.

When the Security Council adopted a resolution last July to create a 26,000-strong UNAMID, it said the force should be "predominantly African in character".

"To have a force that is exclusively African in character is another matter," Guehenno told delegates. And "there are a number of important reasons why a broader mix of troop contributors is necessary."

As a compromise, the Secretariat has expressed its willingness to "prioritise deployment" of troops from two African countries, Ethiopia and Egypt, "with the understanding that the Asian units (from Nepal and Thailand) would deploy in a timely fashion."

The Ethiopian and Egyptian troops are expected to arrive in Darfur in February and March, respectively.

"It is important that UNAMID’s force composition should draw upon a broad range of countries, since due consideration must be given to the geographical balance of the (military) force in order to have an operation that is perceived as impartial by the (warring) parties" in Darfur, he added.

Although UNAMID came into force Dec. 31, it has remained grounded due to a shortage of troops and lack of equipment such as helicopters and ground transportation. As of last month, only 9,000 out of the proposed 26,000 troops have been deployed to Darfur.

"This is insufficient," the secretary-general said in early January. He urged the U.N.’s 192 member states to provide troops "as soon as possible".

The bulk of the troops is expected to come mostly from African nations, including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal.

Meanwhile, the only good news is that the U.N. Secretariat has virtually finalised a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the government of Sudan providing the legal and administrative framework for UNAMID.

The secretary-general told reporters Tuesday that without SOFA "it would be very difficult for peacekeepers to operate". The agreement also spells out operational details of the mission.

But he said he still needs more troops and more helicopters for the new peacekeeping mission.

Responding to a request by Ban, Bangladesh and Ethiopia have offered helicopters, including three attack and two transport choppers.

The new peacekeeping mission, however, needs a total of 18 attack helicopters and six transport helicopters.

Last July, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the creation of a 26,000-strong hybrid U.N. African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. UNAMID has been described as the world’s largest single peacekeeping mission—ranking ahead of the 17,000-strong U.N. Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to U.N. estimates, the four-year-old conflict in Sudan has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 civilians, and reduced over 2.2 million to the status of refugees or internally displaced persons.

The new hybrid force will have an initial mandate of 12 months and incorporates the former African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which was in Darfur since 2004. But AMIS itself suffered from a shortage of troops and financial resources.

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