ADDIS ABABA, 9 July 2004 — The African Union said yesterday its troops would not stand idly by if civilians were attacked in the troubled region of Darfur but Sudan challenged that, saying it alone was responsible for guarding civilians.
The “hard-hitting” discussions on Darfur, the Great Lakes and Ivory Coast during the three-day gathering of the AU “demonstrate our determination to be proactive on our continents problems”, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the chairman of the 53-member African Union (AU) said at the summits closure.
“Resolving conflicts is central to the future of our organization and the attainment of our objective to deliver integration and development to Africa”, he said. “The first preoccupation of the AU is to deliver peace, security and stability. For the rest, development, we will not be able to make progress unless we have peace,” he later told reporters.
AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told journalists he hoped a planned 300-strong armed force to protect AU observers in Darfur would be deployed by the end of the month. He also said the AU had called on Khartoum to stop deadly bombing raids in Darfur.
The conflict in Darfur has dominated the three-day meeting of leaders from 53 African nations that ended yesterday and is seen as a test of the AU’s stated resolve to police its continent’s conflicts.
The body is trying to win increased Western investment in return for ending wars and despotism and curbing corruption. The AU said 300 soldiers already flagged to go to Darfur to protect 60 unarmed AU monitors would also protect civilians.
“These forces that are coming are to protect the observation mission but they cannot remain passive when faced with human rights violations,” AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters after the summit. “We recommend that this force be deployed as quickly as possible and we really hope before the end of the month.”
But Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said: “Sudan has no problem if you want to send protection forces but it is protection forces to protect the monitors. The protection of civilians is the responsibility of the Sudanese government.”
Political analysts said the summit kept the mandate deliberately vague so the Khartoum government did not lose face. “They will come to an agreement between Sudan and the AU, which will not be made public, with the specific terms of reference of the mandate of the force at a later date before they go in,” said one AU official. “They made a sort of secret compromise here.”
US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Darfur this month to try to help end the crisis. A State Department official said Washington was skeptical the AU had the capability to protect civilians and monitors. “Our point is that it is fine to talk about it, but keep the focus on getting the monitors on the ground,” a State Department official said.
The Darfur mission would mark the AU’s only joint military deployment since it sent peacekeepers to Burundi in 2003. The small AU force will attempt to patrol the overcrowded refugee camps and border areas between Sudan and Chad to check violations of a shaky ceasefire signed in April.
After years of tension between nomadic Arab tribes and African farmers, two groups rebelled last year, accusing Khartoum of arming Arab militias known as the Janjawid who are blamed for looting and burning villages. Sudan’s government denies this.
More than a million people have fled the fighting, creating what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. A US State Department official said yesterday Washington continues to receive reports that Janjawid attacks backed by government helicopters remained “persistent”.
“Those are reports that can’t be confirmed and that’s why it’s important for more monitors to get out there,” he said. No one expects the small AU force to provide more than token protection for civilians in an area the size of France. But any reports it makes on acts of violence would carry considerable diplomatic weight.
The African bloc has consistently supported Khartoum against Western criticism and diplomats said Sudan would be wary of alienating some of its most vocal defenders.
African leaders, including Sudan’s Omar Hassan Bashir, met for two hours yesterday to discuss expanding the mandate of the force. The possibility of boosting its numbers also came under the spotlight. “If they are not sufficient then we will reinforce them,” Chadian Foreign Minister Nagoum Yamassoum said.
The AU’s Peace and Security Council has urged Khartoum to “neutralize” the Janjawid and prosecute anyone responsible for bloodshed but said the violence was not genocide, a term used by some human rights groups.
The Khartoum government welcomed that finding. Under international law, consensus among UN members on the existence of genocide requires them to prepare immediate steps to stop it.
Khartoum has agreed to attend AU-mediated Darfur talks in Ethiopia next week, but the rebels say they will not negotiate unless Sudan disarms Arab militias and respects the cease-fire.
