Military

DATE=10/21/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENCE REPORT

TITLE=SUDAN / CONFLICT (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-319816

BYLINE=RAYMOND THIBODEAUX

DATELINE=NAIROBI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: African Union Expands Peacekeeping Role in Sudan

INTRO: The African Union has agreed to expand its peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region. The move comes as the Sudanese government begins peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, with Darfur's two rebels groups. Raymond Thibodeaux has this report from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi.

TEXT: The African Union voted late Wednesday to increase the number of peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region from nearly 400 troops to about 33-hundred troops and civilian police officers. The enhanced force is to be deployed in Sudan early next month.

The force's main task is to monitor a fragile cease-fire between two rebel groups and pro-government Arab militias. Enforcing the cease-fire is essential for international aid groups to get access to the one-and-one-half-million people displaced by the fighting in Darfur, many of whom face severe food shortages and lack of medicine.

The peacekeepers -- mainly from Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Gabon -- are also authorized to protect civilians they encounter that may be under imminent threat.

It is still unclear whether the A.U. mandate allows peacekeeping troops to pursue and disarm combatants in Darfur, including the Arab militias, known as the janjaweed. The militias are accused of carrying out a brutal campaign of killing and rape.

Pursuing the janjaweed is still being discussed, says A.U. spokesman Desmond Orjiako.

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"Indeed, for the question of disarmament of the janjaweed militia and other militias, I think the rules of engagement will be further determined at the Abuja meetings, which is beginning today. I cannot pin it down that that is one of the immediate mandates."

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The Khartoum government has previously opposed A.U. plans for a larger peacekeeping mission in Sudan. But now Sudan's A.U. representative, Osman Al-Sayed, says his country would welcome the peacekeepers. He spoke to VOA by telephone from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

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"If there are attacks here and there, and violations here and there, it is not always from the government side. So the increase of the African forces in Darfur will give the chance for them to observe and monitor what is going on actually on the ground."

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This is one of the largest A.U. peacekeeping operations and a test for the organization's new Peace and Security Council. The panel has vowed to take a pro-active role in settling conflicts in Africa.

Again, A.U. spokesman Orjiako:

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"I should think what it means for us is that the African Union is being put to the test, as well as our partners. All of them are being tested as to how they can collaborate to get conflicts resolved immediately as they occur in Africa."

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As the death toll in Darfur climbs to 70-thousand people, according to a U.N. estimate, many people are hoping that the African peacekeepers can help bring about an end to the Darfur conflict. (SIGNED)

NEB/RT/RAE/KL