ADDIS ABABA, 17 July 2006 — Former US President Bill Clinton yesterday said the world should consider mobilizing an international force from Muslim countries to be deployed in Sudan’s strife-torn region of Darfur. The Sudanese government has vehemently refused the deployment of a UN force in the region, which is the size of France, to replace an ineffectual and cash-strapped African Union contingent of 7,000 troops.
“The Sudanese government should be pressurized by the international community to accept a larger number of troops from the international community in order to stop the killing in Darfur and to get a lasting solution,” Clinton told AU diplomats in Addis Ababa. “To make things acceptable to the Sudanese government, the international community can mobilize troops from Muslim countries like Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh,” he added.
Clinton said the AU protection force was completely unable to restore stability in the region, which has been wracked by bloodshed since February 2003, when rebels from minority tribes took up arms to end alleged marginalization by the government.
This prompted a heavy-handed crackdown by government troops and proxy militia called the Janjaweed, who have killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced 2.4 million others. Hundreds of thousands of Darfur refugees have fled to sweltering plains in eastern Chad.
“The African Union has shown good leadership on Darfur, but the African Union cannot solve the problem by itself and stop the killing and the destitution of the people. There are not enough troops (and) they have no clear mandate to enforce the resolution of the international community and the African Union, even though Rwanda has promised to send 1,000 extra troops,” he said.
“As long as there is no clear mandate, there is little they can do,” Clinton added, apparently pointing to the failure of the pan-African body to empower the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) force with a mandate to protect civilians, who have been caught between the rival fighters.
“The international community should be given a priority list (of what should be done) to stop the killing and to find a lasting solution,” he added.
AU leaders agreed at a summit in Gambia earlier this month to extend their peacekeeping force until the end of the year to allow the United Nations to finalize its preparations to deploy in the vast troubled region, which lies near the Chadian border. The AU had initially planned to withdraw its force by the end of September citing a financial crunch.
Last week, New York-based Human Rights Watch said that G-8 leaders, who are currently meeting in St. Petersburg, should press Sudan’s rulers to accept the UN peacekeepers and halt the mass slaughter that has been exacerbated by famine.
The Western powers have voiced their support for the UN deployment in Darfur.
Another UN force is currently deployed in southern Sudan to oversee the implementation of a peace agreement that was signed in January 2005 between Khartoum and the ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Army, leading to the formation of government of national unity.
In his address, Clinton said the wanton killings still prevailing in Darfur were “unacceptable” and demanded action by the international community as a whole to alleviate the suffering there.
He stated that the AU had shown leadership in dealing with the Darfur problem but said “the AU alone cannot solve the problem and bring to an end the killings and destruction in western Sudan.” Mentioning that although Rwanda had agreed to provide additional 1,000 troops to beef up AMIS, Clinton said “there is little the additional troops from Rwanda and other African countries could do without a clear mandate.”
