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| July 9, 2008 |
U.N.-African Union Force Short of Funds, Soldiers, Equipment
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 4, 2008
EL FASHER, Sudan -- Nearly a year after its creation, a joint U.N. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/United+Nations?tid=informline> -African Union <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/African+Union?tid=informline> peacekeeping mission to Darfur is struggling, with fewer than half the soldiers promised, broken-down equipment, government obstacles, and what commanders say are the unrealistically high expectations of a world that has failed to support them.
The mission, the largest peacekeeping force in U.N. history, was to have been the robust replacement for an underfunded, poorly equipped A.U. force that had been on the ground since 2004. But of the 26,000 police and soldiers who were to deploy to protect civilians in this region of western Sudan, only 140 Bangladeshi police and a smattering of officers, engineers and U.N. bureaucrats have arrived. The rest of the 8,000 or so troops in the field are holdovers from the old A.U. mission -- soldiers who merely painted their green helmets U.N. blue.
"We've just re-hatted -- changed the green hat to blue and put on the U.N. patch," said David Senanu, a police superintendent from Ghana who was among those who made the switch when the new mission officially took over Dec. 31.
The mission is charged with protecting Darfurians in imminent danger and facilitating humanitarian assistance, among other tasks. The hope is that a beefed-up peacekeeping force could eventually enable some of the 2.5 million displaced Darfurians to return home safely.
But the mission is taking over at perhaps the most chaotic point in the five-year-old conflict, in which about 450,000 have died. While the first years were defined by one-sided attacks by government forces on civilians, the conflict is now a multi-sided scramble for weapons and trucks in which humanitarian groups and peacekeepers are increasingly targeted. That makes the mission as critical, and precarious, as ever -- if it can only get off the ground.
Logistical and bureaucratic obstacles imposed by the Sudanese government, which has tried to block the force from the start, have prevented the full deployment of the new battalions. But Western nations that pushed for the force have also caused delays by failing to provide basic equipment -- including helicopters, armored personnel carriers and trucks -- that the African countries providing most of the troops cannot afford. Officials say it costs about $45 million to equip one battalion.
"We still have no helicopters. We still have no medium transport. This is not the responsibility of UNAMID," said the mission's top military commander, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai of Nigeria, referring to the hybrid force by its acronym. "This is the responsibility of the whole world."
But inside the camps, people who had high hopes that a U.N. force would do more to protect them are growing skeptical. Though some peacekeepers said they were greeted with cheers as they headed out on their first patrols in January, that enthusiasm is waning in some places. When the blue-bereted police first arrived in Abu Shouk, a sprawling camp on the sandy edges of this market town, people quickly recognized them as the same faces as before. The police have been chased out of the camp six times, and a camp leader who was the liaison with the mission was beaten up, U.N. police said.
"There is no difference," said Adam Sadiq Haroun, who has lived with his family at Abu Shouk for five years. "They come and patrol, but I don't know exactly what they are doing. . . . They say they are here to protect you. But still people are coming here and robbing, and time is passing."
After the problems in Abu Shouk, police chief Michael Fryer of South Africa <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/southafrica.html?nav=el> switched his forces around to put new peacekeepers in the camp, which he said seemed to help. But his more ambitious plans -- nonstop patrols, better lighting and permanent police stations in the camps, and a force at least 40 percent female to deal with cases of sexual assault -- have been thwarted because he does not have the people, bulletproof vests or cars. As he waits for 4,000 new police to arrive, Fryer is struggling to maintain the old force as deployments end.
"We are giving extensions to former A.U. police just to keep up our numbers," Fryer said in an interview at the new UNAMID headquarters here, a razor-wired compound with rows of white, air-conditioned trailers in the hot sand.
Criticism from Darfurians and outside advocates pushing for better protection of civilians is taking its toll on his officers. "On my level, I can handle it," Fryer said. "But my poor peacekeepers on the ground, it affects their morale. . . . I think expectations for this mission were very high, and we're just not in a position to meet them."
U.S. officials and other foreign diplomats have blamed Sudanese officials for dragging their feet on approving a list of troop-contributing countries and signing an agreement on how they are to operate, and for failing to allow unrestricted flights and holding up equipment at a port.Equipment for the first four new battalions -- two Egyptian, two Ethiopian -- has been delayed for months at Port Sudan. Once released, it will take two months to reach Darfur.
The new peacekeeping mission has been attacked four times, with at least four trucks stolen. The soldiers have never fought back. Agwai said that doing so would make peacekeepers one more party to the conflict, possibly leading to more attacks or jeopardizing the government's cooperation.
"I am not here to stop bullets," he said. "Defending people does not mean we are going between lines."
Agwai and other commanders said the fundamental problem is that there is no peace to keep. The new mission can help "smooth things over" and perhaps deter attacks, Agwai said, but the notion that soldiers can create peace is unrealistic. "If peace is not returned to Darfur, it is not the fault of UNAMID," he said. "It is the fault of the parties to the conflict."