Under-strength UN force takes over in Darfur
The African Union handed over its peacekeeping mission in Darfur today to a United Nations force that the international community hopes will stem the violence in Sudan’s war-torn western region.
But the new mission is staffed far below its originally intended level - at only 9,000 of a planned 26,000 peacekeepers - prompting fears it will be as incapable of protecting civilians as the AU force it replaces.
The transfer ceremony held at the new mission’s headquarters outside the North Darfur capital of El Fasher comes months of international pressure on the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, to accept the force.
During the ceremony, the AU force’s commander, General Martin Agwai, took off his green African Union beret and donned one with the blue UN colours - becoming the commander of the new force, known as Unamid. The troops on hand for the ceremony did the same.
The new force has little additional strengthy - it is mostly made up of the 7,000 former AU troops, with the addition of 800 UN-affiliated personnel and 1,200 police.
Bashir has been criticised for using bureaucracy to stop the deployment of more international troops.
More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced in the four and a half year civil war between ethnic African rebels and the Arab-dominated Khartoum government’s janjaweed militia.
Bashir had once said he would wage a “jihad” against any UN peacekeeper who set foot in Darfur, but in June he accepted the compromise of a “hybrid mission” using mainly African troops.
The AU force was attacked by janjaweed in September and most peacekeepers have since kept to their bases.
UN officials have said the force at full strength with 20,000 troops and 6,000 policemen - backed, it was hoped, by attack helicopters - would be robust and fast enough to stop attacks on refugees, civilians and aid workers.
It is thought it will take months to get the force up to its full size, which would make it the largest peacekeeping mission in the world. African Union nations have promised to increase the total force to 26,000, but UN officials say many of the personnel are not equipped for peacekeeping. There has been no clear timetable for their deployment and no country has offered the 24 helicopters required.
The Sudanese government has refused to allow night flights or large UN cargo planes. It has also barred fully operational battalions of peacekeepers from Thailand or Scandinavia from deploying in January as planned.
