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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SUDAN: Cash-strapped African troops unable to stem violence in Darfur - aid agencies
NAIROBI, 17 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - Violence is rampant in the strife-torn region of Darfur in western Sudan despite the signing of a peace agreement between the government and rebels in May, aid workers said on Monday. Insecurity was preventing humanitarian agencies from assisting civilians affected by the conflict, they added.
The African Union's (AU) 7,000-strong peacekeeping force deployed in Darfur to protect civilians lacked the resources to enable it to provide adequate security to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and aid agency staff in the region, they said.
"The agreement has not brought security to civilians, or any improvements on the ground. The humanitarian need in Darfur remains as great as ever," said Alun McDonald, Oxfam's communications officer in Sudan. "Civilians in Darfur continue to face the daily threat of violence and are in desperate need of protection," he said.
The African Union's Mission in Sudan (AMIS) urgently needed strengthening to enable it to provide better protection to the people of Darfur, McDonald said. "The insecurity is threatening the ability of aid organisations to reach the people in need. Oxfam is having to access many of our programmes by helicopter because the roads are simply too dangerous. Hijacking of humanitarian vehicles has become almost routine," he said.
The AU has said its Darfur mission had a shortfall of well over US$50 million for the April to September 2006 period. An additional $270m was required to fund the mission to the end of December 2006.
An international conference on Darfur organised by the European Union, with the United Nations and AU, will take place in Brussels on Tuesday. The meeting is aimed at supporting the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement and bolstering support for AMIS.
With additional resources, including personnel, equipment and transport, Africa Union troops would be able to cover more territory and protect more people, according to Brendan Cox, spokesman for international NGO Crisis Action. "The African troops are making a difference where they are deployed. They need to be backed up with more resources on the ground," said Cox, urging donors not to wait until a proposed handover of the peacekeeping mandate in Darfur from the AU to the UN. "People are being killed now. The time to scale up the AU force is now," he said by telephone from London.
Cox said the AMIS mandate also needed to be strengthened to make it able to react in a more robust manner whenever civilians or humanitarian workers were threatened by the numerous military forces, rebel factions, militias and criminal groups operating throughout Darfur.
Said McDonald: "Widespread talk about increasing support for the AU has yet to be backed up by action. The UN and international governments should be doing more to strengthen AMIS and must lay down a firm action plan and a timetable for doing so."
He said that in camps and rural areas of Darfur, AMIS had very little presence. "Donor governments and the international community must commit to equip AMIS with the resources it needs to carry out regular patrols, not just in camps but also in the rural areas, and to maintain a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week presence," he added.
The debate over a possible UN force was deflecting attention from the immediate needs of the people of Darfur, said McDonald, who had just returned to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, after spending several days in Darfur. "Any UN force will not be fully deployed until 2007, and in the meantime AMIS is the only force on the ground and it desperately needs strengthening. The people of Darfur need protection right now - not just in six months’ time," he added.
The AU has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Darfur until the end of 2006, and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has agreed to the reinforcement of the AU presence, but not to the eventual deployment of a full UN force for the region.
The Darfur peace deal was signed on 5 May by the Sudanese government and one of the three main rebel groups, the SLA faction headed by Minni Minnawi. Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur's faction of the SLA, with the strongest support base among the Fur - the largest ethnic group in Darfur - refused to sign, claiming it did not fulfil his key demands. Fighting between the two SLA factions, as well as targeted attacks against the African Union, which mediated the peace talks, has flared up since.
According to the UN more than two million people have been displaced by militia attacks and over 200,000 killed in the lawless region.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
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