Ethics Newsline®

Special to Ethics Newsline™ by Adrian Allen

BRUSSELS
World powers last week urged Sudan to accept a United Nations peace-keeping force to replace the ill-equipped African Union force that has been unable to prevent violence in Sudan’s far-western region known as Darfur, an impoverished and arid area torn by violence between Arab and non-Arab factions.

At a meeting in Brussels that included U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, the United Nations and other aid agencies urged the European Union, the United States, and Sudan to continue to finance the 7,000-member AU force for a few more months before a U.N. peace-keeping mission begins, the Reuters news agency reported.

Sudan has rejected the idea of U.N. troops in Darfur, likening it to a Western invasion that could attract jihadi militants and in the long term create an Iraq-style scenario, according to a report from CNN.

But U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs Jendayi Frazer argued that the only long-term option in Darfur is an international peace-keeping force, according to Reuters.

Some analysts believe that Sudan’s resistance to a U.N. force is due to the possibility that the soldiers would arrest any militia leaders and officials likely to be indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

The AU force has only enough money to operate through the end of August and will need $440 million to run until the end of the year, AU Commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said. The AU had intended to finish its mission at the end of September but its leaders decided to extend the mission to the end of the year due to Sudan’s opposition to a U.N. force, according to various press reports.

Eight humanitarian agencies, including Oxfam and CARE International, have maintained that the 7,000 AU troops in Darfur are set up to fail, reported BBC News.

The agencies told the Associated Press that $300 million is urgently needed to fund the AU mission through the end of the year.

The violence in Darfur broke out in 2003 when non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab government. Reuters reported that to protect the government, Khartoum responded by arming a mostly Arab militia, which has since been accused of rape, murder, and looting.