United States Wants United Nations in Darfur Before 2007
28 June 2006
"The sooner the U.N. takes control, the better," U.S. envoy Bolton says
United Nations -- The United States will continue to press for the handover of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur to the United Nations before the end of 2006, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said June 27.
The U.N. target for taking over the peacekeeping operations in Darfur is January 2007, but Bolton said "the handover can and should take place before that."
"In the meantime we will work to strengthen the existing AMIS [African Union Mission in Sudan] mission," he said. "But we think the sooner the U.N. takes control of the mission in Darfur the better."
Bolton spoke with journalists after U.N. Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno privately briefed the council on his recent assessment mission to Sudan.
Guéhenno said that given the fragility of the situation in Darfur "it would be wise" to have a substantial force on the ground consisting of three brigades of three to five battalions each by January 2007.
In the meantime, he said, the United Nations should immediately strengthen the African Union force with communications, transport and other help such as strengthening command and control capabilities in anticipation of the U.N. takeover.
"The situation in Darfur remains very fragile -- there is an agreement and that's a major achievement, but it's an agreement that opens a window and that's a window that needs to be seized," Guéhenno told journalists after the meeting.
A solid military presence could also address the situation in Chad, where allegations by both countries of cross-border incursions are growing increasingly worrisome, he said.
Although Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has stated that he will not accept a U.N. peacekeeping force, Guéhenno said that the United Nations still can augment the 7,000-strong African Union operation.
"We believe that the United Nations can help the African mission. We did not get any objection from the government of Sudan, so we are going to work in earnest on that," he said.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that he will be meeting al-Bashir at an African Union summit on July 1, along with other African leaders. "I hope the collective pressure will make a difference," he said.
Annan said that he also appealed to the Security Council "to bring their collective and individual pressure to bear not just on the Sudanese government to cooperate and support the deployment, but also on the rebels that are outside the agreement to sign the agreement and pressure both parties to implement in good faith what they have agreed to do" in the Abuja peace agreement.
The Darfur Peace Agreement, signed in Abuja, Nigeria, on May 5 between the government of Sudan and the principal rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement, provides for detailed, verifiable steps to disarm and neutralize the Jingaweit and other armed militia groups, and opens the way for economic recovery and integration of the former combatants and people of Darfur into the political process. (See related article.)
Bolton said that Guéhenno's briefing "shows how difficult a mission this is going to be, particularly if we don't overcome the opposition from the government in Khartoum as well as trying to find cooperation from the various rebel groups -- those that signed the Darfur peace agreement and those who didn't."
The U.S. ambassador said the African Union's desire to turn the mission over to the United Nations "is unambiguous."
"It is the responsibility of the AU leaders to bring Sudan into compliance with their own commitment under the Darfur peace agreement," Bolton said.
The Sudanese president's position "is obviously contrary to the obligations he undertook in the Darfur peace agreement," Bolton continued. But the Security Council "will try to overcome that first through discussions ... then consider resolutions or what other steps we might take here."
For additional information, see Darfur Humanitarian Emergency.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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