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Sudan Tribune

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Bring on the UN peacekeepers

Editorial, the Economist

Feb 9, 2006 — Since the tragedy in Darfur, Sudan’s western region, began three years ago, at least 200,000 people-some say more than 300,000-have died; another 2m, in a population of 6m, have been displaced, many of them fleeing across the border into Chad; peace talks in Nigeria between the rebels and the Sudanese government have stalled yet again; there is a risk of a proxy war breaking out between Chad and Sudan; and the African Union (AU), with some 7,000 ill-equipped troops, admits it cannot keep the peace. Now, belatedly, the UN is likely, as a last resort, to send blue helmets to Darfur.

The United States, which two years ago accused the Sudanese government of genocide, is driving the plan, and opposition to it is fading. The Sudanese government in Khartoum, which has armed and encouraged the mounted Arab militias, or janjaweed, responsible for most of the killing, has stopped denouncing the UN intervention idea out of hand. The AU, whose peacekeepers have proved sadly unable to stop the janjaweed’s campaign of rape, murder and pillage, has acknowledged that it needs the UN’s help. And even China, which had opposed any UN intervention for fear of annoying Sudan’s murderous government, from which it buys vast dollops of oil, is now unlikely to object. Last week, the UN Security Council asked Kofi Annan, the secretary-general, to “initiate contingency planning without delay” and to produce a range of options in consultation with the AU. Mr Annan’s envoy to Sudan says a force of 12,000-20,000 peacekeepers would be appropriate.

Rapid intervention is especially needed because the suffering in Darfur has again got worse. Around 70,000 people fled the town of Mershing last week, after militiamen on horses and camels attacked it. In the resulting stampede, 13 children were reported to have been crushed to death and another 220 went missing. Hundreds fled, many for the third or fourth time, across the border into Chad.

The head of the AU’s mission accused one of Darfur’s two main rebel groups of provoking the violence by attacking a government-held town shortly before. The AU has previously claimed to have photographs of government attack-helicopters strafing villages to support the marauding janjaweed. The AU again proved unable to prevent such crimes: its mission has almost no aviation oil for its two battered helicopters; in one sector of Darfur, which is bigger than Italy, 760 AU infantrymen are supposed to patrol some 12,000 sq km (4,600 square miles).

Relief from the UN, if it comes, will not come soon. A fact-finding mission must be dispatched to report on what kind of force Darfur needs. The Security Council would have to approve it, and peacekeepers would have to be found. They would probably not, at first, be numerous; the UN would aim to put blue helmets on the heads of those in the existing AU force.

It could still be tricky: few countries are keen to lend troops to the UN-and often do so only because their armies need the cash for boots and bullets, and get well reimbursed by the world body. There are currently 15 UN peacekeeping missions around the world. One in southern Sudan, where a much longer war recently ended with several million dead, is meant to have 10,000 troops, but so far has barely more than half that figure.

One idea would be for the UN Security Council to ask NATO to give temporary assistance to the AU, pending a full-blown UN mission’s arrival. NATO has already airlifted eight battalions of AU soldiers and police into the zone; the European Union has airlifted one battalion. The United States, which is perennially sceptical about the UN’s ability and wants NATO to do more peacekeeping, is keen on the idea. To cover this eventuality, a new mandate from the UN would be urgently needed.

The Americans are suggesting that NATO could provide the AU with more airlift and other logistical support, and could help with tactical planning and intelligence. Such help could probably be supplied, at a pinch, by the alliance’s European members, but not attack-helicopters to enforce the no-fly zone over Darfur which is also patently needed.

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