ADDIS ABABA, 12 January 2006 — Sudanese troops are disguising themselves as African peacekeepers to launch surprise attacks on rebels in Darfur. In a report to be submitted to the AU’s Peace and Security Council yesterday, AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said the Sudanese troops were painting their vehicles white, the color of AU peacekeepers’ vehicles “to disguise their identities and launch surprise attacks on their opponents.”
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said his military hires vehicles and helicopters that are painted white for transportation, but said the vehicles were never used in combat. “Government troops do not need to disguise their vehicles by painting them white to fight the rebels,” he said in the Ethiopian capital.
But it was not the first time the AU has accused Sudanese forces of disguising themselves as peacekeepers. The AU had said in October that in a September attack on civilians in a Darfur town and adjacent camp for those displaced by the war, Sudanese forces used government vehicles painted AU white. “This new development threatens to undermine the credibility of (the African Union peacekeeping mission) and draw the mission into the conflict,” Konare said in his report yesterday.
He said three government vehicles and a helicopter gunship had been spotted painted white. “The government should ensure that no white colored vehicles are used for military operations. The government should stop using white aircraft and vehicles for any security related activity,” Konare said. A 6,964-strong African Union military and police force has been struggling to stabilize Darfur, saying it needs more financial and other support from the international community.
The United Nations estimates that at least 180,000 people have died, mainly through famine and disease, and several million more have either fled into neighboring Chad or been displaced inside Sudan since the conflict began in February 2003. Two ethnic African rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government, accusing it of repression and unfair distribution of wealth. The government is accused of responding by backing ethnic Arab militia in a scorched earth policy in a region long riven by competition over scarce resources.
In his report, Konare said peacekeepers have noted a growing number of violations of a tattered April 2004 cease-fire. Since May 2005, there has been 139 breaches by the army, the rebels, and “uncontrolled and proliferating various armed militias,” he said. Sudan’s government needs to take greater steps to protect the rights of civilians in the region, Konare said.
“Arbitrary arrest and detention, unlawful killings, beating, abductions and gender based violence still continue across Darfur,” he added. “Civilians are still being attacked in their communities and forcibly displaced from their homes.”
