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EL FASHIR, Sudan: Although authority for peacekeeping in the
conflict-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur was handed over
Monday by the African Union (AU) to a hybrid force formed by the
United Nations and the AU, outstanding challenges still make it
difficult for the peacekeeping operation to succeed.
In the transfer ceremony held at the
headquarters of the hybrid force in El Fashir, the capital of North
Darfur State, African soldiers who had served in the AU peacekeeping
force exchanged their green headgear for the UN blue beret.
An AU flag which had been fluttering for three
and half years was also replaced by a flag of the hybrid force.
The first challenge for the hybrid peacekeeping
operation is the lack of human resources as most of the countries
which have promised to send troops to join the hybrid force are
reluctant to do that in view of the complicated and dangerous
situation in the region, where more than 20 rebel movements and more
armed tribal groups are fighting the government and sometimes
fighting each other.
Even the African peacekeepers, which were sent
to the region in 2004 to monitor a fragile ceasefire, have sometimes
become targets of assault.
More than 50 AU soldiers have lost their lives
in Darfur since 2004, with 12 killed as the result of an attack
alone by unknown gunmen at Haskanita, South Darfur, in September
2007.
In a message sent to the transfer ceremony, UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Chairperson of the AU Commission
Alpha Oumar Konare emphasized the need for troop and police
contributing countries to deploy their personnel as quickly as
possible.
“If we are to have a real impact on the
situation on the ground within the first half of 2008, these
deployments must happen far more swiftly than they have done so
far,” Ban Ki-Moon and Konare said in the message.
On July 31, the UN Security Council adopted
Resolution 1769, authorizing the deployment the hybrid force
including some 20,000 troops and more than 6,000 police and civilian
staff to replace the underfunded AU peacekeeping force.
Over 9,000 uniformed personnel are currently on
the ground, including 7,000 troops and 1,200 police serving with the
AU force, as well as UN soldiers and police officers who had been
sent to Darfur as part of the UN heavy and light support packages
deployed to support the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) over the last
year.
Even for the peacekeepers who have already been
deployed in Darfur, a region of France’s size, they have not been
equipped with enough instruments for long-distance moves and
transportation especially helicopters.
The UN and AU chiefs also noted that critical
gaps remained in the hybrid force as no pledges had been received so
far for ground and transportation units and aviation assets, which
are essential to the mobility of the force and its ability to
adequately protect the civilian population in the vast area of
Darfur.
Obviously the hybrid force has not so far won
sufficient confidence from the various parties, including the
Sudanese government and its institutions and agents in the region,
as well as the rebel groups, local residents and displaced persons.
Khartoum has repeatedly expressed a fear that
the hybrid force could be used by Western countries, which it has
accused of having “hidden agenda” in Darfur, to sabotage
Sudan’s sovereignty and political stability.
Rebel groups, on the other hand, have announced
their opposition to the participation of some countries which have
good relations with Khartoum in the hybrid force, calling for more
contribution and more active role of the Western countries in it.
Meanwhile, most local citizens and displaced
persons have doubted that the deployment of the hybrid force could
lead to a quick realization of security and stability in the region
in view of their bitter experiences with the existence of the
underfunded and poor-equipped AU peacekeeping force.
Only one day before the transfer ceremony, the
Sudanese authorities arrested six members of the rebel Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM), including its representative in the
Ceasefire Commission (CFC) in El Fashir, a move over which the AU
has expressed its concern.
Ban Ki-Moon and Konare indicated that to
succeed, the hybrid force would need the active cooperation of the
Sudanese government, adding that they were encouraged that Sudan
recently agreed to a number of points related to the UN-AU Mission
in Darfur (UNAMID) deployment and expected Khartoum to follow
through on the commitments it had made.
Stressing that the deployment of UNAMID will
only be as effective as the political process it is mandated to
support, they urged all parties to cease all military action and
turn their energies to the substance of the negotiations and to come
to the negotiations table to settle their differences.
-- Xinhua
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