Darfur to receive 3,000 more AU troops

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

4U2Play

Refugee
Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Messages
1,791
Location
California
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5056886.stm


"An extra 3,000 peacekeepers are to be sent to Sudan's Darfur region in a bid to contain the raging violence, the African Union has told the BBC.
Some 7,000 AU troops are already in Darfur but AU peacekeeping head Said Djinnit said the numbers would be increased to 10,000.

The move comes as the United Nations is in talks with Sudan about taking over the peacekeeping operation.

Sudan is resisting these plans, saying the extra money should go to the AU.

It is expected that the AU troops will form the basis of the UN operation if it ever goes ahead.

At least 200,000 have died in the conflict in the past three years, and two million people have been displaced.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has said it only has half the money it needs to feed some six million people in Sudan.

This number also includes south Sudan, still recovering from a 21-year war which ended last year.

Some Sudanese officials see the hand of the US behind the UN effort and they are right to some extent, says BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle, who is travelling with the UN delegation.

However, the UN says it will not deploy peacekeepers without Sudan's approval, but reiterated that it must act to stop the killings.

Last month's peace deal between the government and the largest rebel faction in Darfur has failed to stop the violence, as other rebel groups and pro-government militias have continued to stage the attacks.

Sudanese rebel forces took up arms in February 2003, accusing the government of discriminating against Darfur's black Africans in favour of Arabs."


3000 is better than nothing, but they won't be able to stop the bloodshed.

The Sudanese are just stalling for time.
 
Sudan Says It Will Accept U.N.-African Peace Force in Darfur

By ROBERT F. WORTH
The New York Times, Nov. 17


UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 16 — The Sudanese government on Thursday agreed in principle to allow a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force into the war-stricken Darfur region, reversing its longstanding refusal to let United Nations troops in.

The agreement, reached after a day of talks with United Nations officials in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, raised hopes for a more effective peacekeeping effort in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed in brutal ethnic and tribal warfare since 2003. A small African Union peacekeeping force has been unable to quell the violence.

It is not clear how soon the new force can enter Darfur. Two major issues must still be worked out before the agreement becomes final: the number of troops, and how the commander will be selected. A document issued by the parties in the talks — members of the Security Council, the Arab League, the African Union and a number of African leaders — specified a force of 17,000 soldiers and 3,000 police officers. The issues will be taken up at a meeting scheduled for next Friday in Brazzaville, Congo Republic.

The agreement was a breakthrough. Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, had repeatedly rejected requests by Western leaders for a United Nations force in Darfur, a vast arid region in western Sudan. Fighting has grown worse in recent weeks, despite a peace accord signed in May by Sudan and the main Darfur rebel group.

It was not clear what made the Sudanese leaders change their minds. But a United Nations official who was present said the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, had played a role in persuading Sudan’s foreign minister, Lam Akol, that there was no hidden agenda in the effort to introduce a stronger peacekeeping force. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing diplomatic protocol.

The agreement is something of a personal triumph for Kofi Annan, the departing United Nations secretary general. He introduced the idea of a hybrid force and lobbied African leaders for days before convening the meeting.
 
Back
Top Bottom