Global Issues
RIGHTS-SUDAN: ‘We Really Need Some Political Will’
The civil war in Darfur, a six-year conflict that has killed up to 300,000 Sudanese civilians thus far, is now virtually out of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s hands.
'I don’t know what more he can do,' Rania Rajjij, of Amnesty International told IPS.
Ban assured reporters here that that the Darfur crisis has remained one of his top priorities from the day he took office in January 2007. But, 'we really need some political will,' he said, both on the part of the warring factions and also among the 192 member states, who have even failed to provide the U.N. with the 24 helicopters urgently needed for the peacekeeping force in Darfur.
By the time Ban took office, the war in Darfur - a civil war, which began in 2003, between the government and its ally, the Jajaweed militia, and rebel groups from Darfur - had been raging for four years.
At its core, the war is a struggle for power, Febienne Hara of Crisis Group, told IPS.
The people in Darfur were marginalised by the North like the Sudanese in the South - who took up arms against the North and the government from the 1980s till 2006.
When the North-South peace negotiations produced a power-sharing agreement, Hara said, those in Darfur 'saw was that it was possible to have power in Khartoum. It encouraged them to take up arms against Khartoum.'
After becoming Secretary General, Ban persuaded the Sudanese government to allow UNAMID - a newly formed a joint African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur - to enter the country to protect U.N. personnel and civilians.
But five years later, as the civil war in Darfur continues, at the front lines, government soldiers - mostly - are reportedly raping Sudanese women, and shooting men who refuse to join their ranks.
Both rebel groups and the government continue to recruit child soldiers, according to the relief agencies.
On Thursday, the Security Council, which consists of 15 member nations, voted unanimously to extend the mandate of UNAMID till July 2010.
When announcing the extension of the mandate, John Sawers, the permanent representative of the United Kingdom, said, 'The resolution sets out some priorities within its existing mandate for the UNAMID force, in particular the protection of civilians and support for the humanitarian effort.'
But though the U.N. and the Security Council, in particular, 'give a very strong mandate to UNAMID,' as Hara said, however, 'they don’t give UNAMID the resources to actually carry out the mandate.'
Since its inception, UNAMID has suffered from shortfalls in troops and critical transport support and aviation assets. Consequently, Rajjij explains, 'there are a lot of isolated areas where people need protection and UNAMID cannot go there.'
The Secretary-General has been appealing to the international community to provide UNAMID with the troops and equipment - helicopters, in particular - so that it can fulfil its mandate.
UNAMID was supposed to have a force of 26,000 - 20,000 troops and 6,000 U.N. police officers. As of May 2009, there were only 13,286 troops and 2,936 troops in Darfur.
On Wednesday, however, Ban declared, 'we may be able to achieve the [level of] mandated soldiers of 26,000 by the end of this year.'
He was less optimistic about the helicopters the U.N. urgently needs.
'I have been discussing this issue with almost all the leaders of countries who, I thought, would be able to provide, or would have some capacity to provide helicopters,' Ban told reporters on Wednesday.
But, Ban reported that only six helicopters have been pledged thus far. Five are coming from Ethiopia, and one is coming from Bangladesh.
'The U.S. and the UK, they haven’t pledged anything,' Rajij told IPS, 'and the reason they are saying that they cannot give UNAMID any material is that they have a lot of involvement in wars outside of their own countries - basically in Afghanistan and Iraq - so they need all their material.'
'Some other countries do not have the means. They do not have helicopters to pledge in the first place,' said Rajij.
But according to a recent report by the Elders, a group of 12 former statesmen - including Jimmy Carter and Kofi Anan - who seek to use their experience to better the world, the international community has plenty of helicopters that it could donate.
According to their report, between the Czech Republic, India, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the Ukraine alone, there is a fleet of about 70 helicopters.
Nevertheless, even if with all the troops and helicopters Ban has been asking for, UNAMID could never solve the crisis in Darfur, according to experts.
'UNAMID’s mandate states that they cannot intervene in a case when the government’s sovereignty is in question,' explains Rajjij. 'Sometimes the government’s forces attacked civilians and UNAMID did not intervene.'
This year, Sudan has, however, made some progress towards peace. In February and March, the government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the largest rebel organizations in Darfur, participated in peace talks.
Moreover, in February, the Sudanese government and the JEM signed an agreement to 'to remain engaged in the peace process and to maintain representatives in Doha to prepare a framework agreement for the final talks.'
But many - including the JEM itself - do not trust that the Sudanese government will abide by its agreement.
'The government in Khartoum is notorious for ignoring the rule of law, persecuting dissenting Sudanese voices, breaking existing agreements,' David Sullivan of the Enough Project told IPS. Even if the government and the rebels reach a peace agreement, violence between rebel factions in Darfur could continue.
The North-South agreement was struck three years ago, but just this weekend, one Southern Sudanese tribe called the Merle attacked and killed 160 members - most of whom were women and children - of the Lou Nuer tribe, a rival Southern Sudanese ethnic group.
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service