- The African Union (AU) is preparing for a larger troops contingent with a stronger mandate in Sudan, despite Sudan government opposition. Rwandan President Paul Kagame has already insisted that his country's peacekeepers will intervene if civilians are threatened even if they are not mandated. Meanwhile, attacks on civilians continue.
On 27 July, the African Union's Peace and Security Council proposed increasing the current ceasefire monitoring force in Sudan's western Darfur provinces to more than 2,000 soldiers and expanding its mandate to provide civilian protection. The Sudanese government however has so far refused to accept the proposal.
The AU nevertheless has not given up its intentions to play a leading role in solving the Darfur crisis. Patrick Mazhimaka, deputy chairman of the AU's Commission, yesterday in Port Louis (Mauritius) made it clear that an expansion of the Union's forces "to a peacekeeping capacity is currently being considered" despite Sudanese protests.
- This is essential in order to give ourselves sufficient capacity to protect the civilian population in case the militia resume attacks on them, Mr Mazhimaka said. "We are gravely concerned about the developments in the Sudan and are taking decisive measures to bring the protracted conflicts to an end," he added.
The AU, in addition to deploying a large peacekeeping mission, wants to achieve a clear mandate that gives it the right to use force if and when Darfuri civilians are being attacked by the Janjaweed militia. According to UN reports from Darfur, such attacks are still registered at a daily basis despite the Sudanese pledge to disarm the militia.
The Union earlier this year deployed 123 military monitors in Darfur to oversee an April ceasefire and has later decided to send a "protection force" of about 300 armed troops to protect these monitors. This weekend, 155 Rwandan troops arrived in Sudan and a contingent of Nigerian troops of the same size is expected to arrive next week.
Despite the limited mandate given these AU troops, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has made it clear that his troops will not stand by passively and watch Janjaweed slaughtering of civilians. He ordered his soldiers to defend civilians against attacks by militias when he on Saturday sent them off from the Kigali airport.
- If it was established that the civilians are in danger then our forces will certainly intervene and use force to protect civilians, President Kagame later told the press in Kigali. "In my view it does not make sense to give security to peace observers while the local population is left to die," he added.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is expected to give similar orders to his troops when these leave Nigeria, probably on 24 August. President Obasanjo, who is also the current AU Chairman, has strongly signalled that the Union cannot accept further attacks on civilians in Darfur.
While the limited AU "protection force" may get tougher on the Janjaweed militia than Khartoum had foreseen, the Union will not be able to send a bigger peacekeeping force to Darfur without consent from the Sudanese government. This however, only on Friday was declined by Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir in a radio address, where he claimed that "foreign forces will only complicate the situation."
The 300 AU troops will be able to do little to protect civilians in an area roughly the size of France. Nevertheless, the tougher tone by the AU and the Rwandan government harvested much praise today. "The Rwandan government deserves praise for deploying troops to Darfur and pledging to protect civilians," said Georgette Gagnon of the US-based group Human Rights Watch.
- Now the international community should increase pressure on Sudan to accept peacekeepers with a mandate for protecting civilians, and it should provide the support that's urgently needed for this mission, Ms Gagnon added. The AU's efforts needed support from the international community, the US group noted.
The UN Security Council on July 30 passed a resolution demanding that Sudan take steps to improve conditions in Darfur in the areas of security, human rights, humanitarian assistance and political resolution of the conflict. The Security Council gave the Sudanese government a 30-day deadline to disarm the government-backed Janjaweed militias.
Little positive has however happened in Darfur since that, most observers, including UN agencies, agree. In a report released last week, Human Rights Watch documented how Khartoum instead has allowed the Janjaweed militia to "continue to rape, assault and loot civilians, and drive ever more people from their homes."
- Khartoum claims it can't control the Janjaweed, but at the same refuses to allow international troops to protect civilians in Darfur, commented Ms Gagnon. "If the Sudanese government were truly serious about protecting civilians, it would accept an expanded international presence to stop the atrocities."
Meanwhile, reports of negative developments in Darfur are published on a daily basis. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says that about 500 Darfuris have crossed the border close to the Chadian village of Berak and further north in Bahai due to continued attacks from the Janjaweed militia.
The UN special representative to Sudan, Jan Pronk, yesterday confirmed that the situation in a number of areas was deteriorating for Darfuri civilians. He also voices concern over the continued limited access for humanitarian workers in Darfur, who are trying to avoid a possible famine among the 1.4 million displaced civilians. Up to 300,000 persons are at the risk of dying due to lack of food and clean water, UN sources have estimated.
Mr Pronk however yesterday also talked about positive developments in Darfur. Sudanese authorities yesterday reopened the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons in South Darfur to humanitarian workers – one day after the senior UN envoy had called for access to the area. This happened after Mr Pronk had met Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha to discuss the situation in Darfur.
The UN representative further told media that he wanted to see many more African Union observers in Darfur. The UN is currently pressuring the Sudanese government to accept the AU proposal of receiving up to 2,500 peacekeepers.
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