UN moves on several fronts to reinforce Darfur peace accord
United Nations officials mobilized today to press for a robust peacekeeping force and a speedy disbursement of
humanitarian funds to back up a peace accord signed 10 days ago between the Sudanese Government and a major rebel group
in the western Darfur region of Africa’s largest country.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative for Sudan Jan Pronk took part in a ministerial-level meeting of
the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to examine the current mandate and the
future of the AU protection force currently deployed in Darfur.
Mr. Annan has already written to Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir seeking his support for a strong UN
peacekeeping force to replace the 7,000-strong AU mission (AMIS) deployed in Darfur, where fighting between the
Government, pro-government militias and rebels has killed scored of thousands of people and uprooted 2 million more in
the last three years.
The Sudanese Government has opposed such a force but said it was prepared to discuss UN involvement after the conclusion
of a peace accord in the talks in Abuja, Nigeria, where the agreement with the largest rebel force was reached on 5 May.
In an opinion piece in London’s Financial Times today, Mr. Annan reiterated that there was no time to lose. “As soon as
possible AMIS must be transformed into a larger and more mobile UN operation, better equipped and with a stronger
mandate,” he wrote.
“No less urgent is the need to raise more money for emergency relief. Right now the region is facing the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis. Without massive and immediate support, relief agencies will be unable to continue their work and
hundreds of thousands more people will die from hunger, malnutrition and disease.”
In Geneva today, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland warned that the period over the coming months was an
absolutely critical window of opportunity for the international community to respond to such humanitarian crises as in
Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Fresh from a visit to Darfur last week, he told a news conference that without proper humanitarian funding these
countries risked falling back “into the abyss.”
Contrary to what had been reported, he said the Sudanese Government had not yet agreed to a UN force and at present was
discussing the proposal. When and if host country approval comes, it would take up to six months or more to get the
force fully operational.
Meanwhile, he said it was absolutely essential that AMIS receive a more robust mandate to protect the civilian
population and humanitarian workers and that its force be at least double the 7,000 personnel authorized at present.
He noted that the Abuja agreement could mean that all of Sudan would get a peace process following last year’s peace
agreement between the Government and rebels which ended two decades of civil war in the south of the vast country. The
Abuja agreement could open the doors to the return of nearly 2 million internally displaced persons.
In both the Sudan and the DRC, funding has been an acute problem this year, he said. With new funding from the European
Union and the United States, it was possible that food cuts could be averted.
On the separate issue of the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, Mr. Egeland said the UN was
very concerned about the worsening conditions following the cut off of funds after the election victory of the Hamas
movement. “This is not only a political issue, it is just as much a humanitarian and security issue,” he added.