Zoellick Calls for More African Union Police in Darfur
03 June 2005
Police presence, security keys to restoring peace to the region
Washington -- More African Union police should be deployed in refugee camps in Darfur to help stop attacks against civilians across the region, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick stressed June 3.
According to Reuters press pool reports from Sudan, Zoellick arrived in the capital of North Darfur state, El Fasher, with little official fanfare. He went straight to the African Union (AU) headquarters for a briefing on the security situation by the chief of the mission, who is in charge of 2,300 troops and hundreds of civilian police.
"This visit is ... to assess the humanitarian and security situation [and] to show support for the African Union mission," Zoellick said.
Speaking to reporters after the briefing, Zoellick said the reports show that where AU forces are deployed, conflict has been stopped. "That's one reason why a key element of the strategy is to expand the AU force presence," he said.
He also urged the Sudanese government to rein in and disarm the Arab militias that have been accused of raping, burning and killing in the remote western region that has been the site of bloodshed since early 2003.
"We are certainly sending a very strong message to the government of Sudan that we want them to stop the militias. They have a responsibility ... and we also want them to move to disarm the militias," he said.
Zoellick visited Sudan earlier in April, when he met with senior government officials and traveled to Darfur and the South, where a peace deal signed in January is being implemented. During that visit, he stressed the importance of the North-South peace accord in helping to find a lasting solution to the Darfur rebellion.
"If you have progress on one and not the other it brings it down, so you have to have progress on both," he said.
On the current visit, Zoellick said that deploying AU police within the camps that house about 2 million displaced persons would be key to reducing attacks and returning security to Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in mostly non-Arab villages by Arab militias known locally as Jingaweit.
"The key is to get the police forces operating within the camps. That is being expanded. And we talked about 30 additional posts in the camps," he said after talks with AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit.
The AU has a total contingent of about 3,000 troops and police on the ground and hopes to expand that to 7,000 by the end of September.
South African police commissioner Annan Pillay, who is in charge of the almost 500 police, said AU police patrols had already reduced the numbers of reported rapes and attacks on camp residents.
At present, he said, the AU police only have a permanent presence in the Kalma camp in South Darfur, which houses 110,000 displaced persons and has seen some of the worst clashes. Another 30 police posts are expected to be set up in priority camps by the end of June, he said.
Zoellick and Djinnit agreed that a political solution to the conflict needs to be found through talks, which are slated to restart June 10 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
"It's not enough to provide humanitarian support and food and security here -- we need to press forward the peaceful reconciliation process," Zoellick said.
Djinnit also said the AU was hoping for significant progress at the Darfur peace talks by July 9, when a new North-South coalition government will be formed in Khartoum.
"Our target is that by July 9 we will be able to make some significant progress on the political ground while matters are moving on the ground to make the security situation better," he said.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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