| African Union steps back |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Thursday, 07 June 2007 | |
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The African Union wishes joint control of the force in the final phase of a three stage UN plan to bolster the 7,000 member AU force currently situated in Darfur. The United Nations announced on May 24, 2007 that the AU and UN agreed on the proposal for the hybrid force, and the document was handed to Sudan’s UN Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad on the following day. But on June 01, 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was forced to backtrack. He told reporters after briefing the Security Council that it was “unfortunate” that the African Union has problems with the hybrid force proposal. “There was very close consultation between the African Union and the United Nations on this joint proposal,” Ban said. “We are now working to have clarifications on some elements of the draft.” Diplomatically, Sudan has taken a hard line, refusing to allow any international peacekeepers other than the small and powerless African Union force already in place, despite a request from the union to hand over its command to the United Nations. The four-year conflict between ethnic African rebels and pro-government janjaweed militia in the vast western Darfur region killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million Darfurians. The African Union force was unable to stop the fighting and could not have a peace agreement signed for long three years. It was in November 2006 when Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir agreed to the three-stage package to strengthen the AU force. Al-Bashir has since backed down on accepting UN soldiers and approval of the hybrid force still remains with a question mark. After five months of stalling, the Sudanese president gave the go-ahead for the second phase in mid-April with a “heavy support package” with 3,000 UN soldiers, police and civilian personnel along with six attack helicopters and other equipments. Since taking over as secretary-general in January, Ban believes he has made “some progress, even though slow,” including agreement on the heavy support package and preparing the hybrid proposal. It is unfortunate that the African Union has pulled back with some changes after the Security Council adopted and issued a presidential statement. This is actually a bad example set by the AU. The UN, for the sake of humanity, will have to show a spirit of cooperation and unity to the African Union in finding a solution for the Darfur situation. Under the current circumstances, a new agreement on humanitarian access between Sudan and the United Nations is compulsory. This process may be slow, painful, but will be moving toward to solve the issue - believes the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 08 June 2007 ) |
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