EL-FASHER, Sudan, 7 November 2004 — The African Union mission in Darfur faced critical transportation and supply shortages as it began sending reinforcements into remote parts of western Sudan yesterday, a senior official said.
“We need a lot more people, but we also need the logistics to move and feed them or it will mean nothing,” said Col. Anthony Amedoh, the mission’s chief military observer.
“At the moment, we don’t have enough vehicles for transporting the expanded force,” he told Reuters during an interview in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. The AU voted last month to boost its force in Darfur from about 440 soldiers up to 3,320 personnel, including 2,341 troops and 815 civilian police tasked with monitoring a shaky ceasefire in Africa’s largest country.
Planes and helicopters carried 228 Rwandan and Nigerian troops from the AU headquarters in El-Fasher to Kebkabiya and Geneina in western Darfur yesterday, delivering the mission’s first reinforcements into the field.
The objective of the AU mission is to help improve security for civilians and aid workers operating in a vast arid region where fighting has driven more than 1.6 million people from their homes during the past 20 months.
Darfur’s conflict erupted in early 2003 when rebels launched a revolt against Sudan’s government, accusing it of neglecting the region. Arab militias known as Janjaweed, who rebels say have government backing, responded by attacking villages and embarking on a wave of looting, raping and killing. Khartoum calls the Janjaweed outlaws.
The expanded AU mission, which is seen as a test of the African Union’s ability to solve the continent’s problems, is expected to cost $220 million, with most financing coming from donors, including the European Union. Only 275 reinforcements from Nigeria and Rwanda have landed in El-Fasher so far however, and the rest are expected to take another four months to arrive as the security situation in Darfur steadily deteriorates.
Aid agencies fearing a surge of fighting have suspended operations and evacuated staff from the volatile Jebel Marra area in West Darfur state, leaving about 160,000 displaced villagers without the essential food handouts they rely upon.
The Sudan government and Darfur rebels remained deadlocked at peace talks yesterday, and African Union mediators were meeting both sides separately to try to end a row over security issues. The talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja are aimed at ending what the United Nations has dubbed the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Khartoum refused on Friday to sign a security document proposed by AU mediators, saying it was too biased in favor of the rebels. The rebels say they will not negotiate any further until the government agrees to and signs the security proposal.
