Darfur: AU seeks help from Nato
2006-06-08 10:10
Addis Ababa - The African Union is recruiting new troops for Darfur from Africa and has written to Nato for logistic support despite apprehension in Sudan, UN security council members have been told.
The 15-nation security council came to Addis Ababa to consult AU officials before returning to Sudan, where it was trying to persuade the government to accept UN peacekeepers by the end of the year.
The under-financed and ill-equipped AU had 7 000 troops and monitors in Darfur, who were the only bulwark against atrocities in the region, where ethnic cleansing had driven two million people from their homes.
AMIS 'needs to be reinforced'
Britain's UN ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said: "Before the UN actually takes over, the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) needs to be reinforced and we will be working together to make sure AMIS is reinforced."
According to a council member at the meeting, AU commission head Alpha Oumar Konare expected more troops from Ghana, Rwanda and Nigeria to make a total of 10 000 soldiers and observers in Darfur.
He also wanted back-up support, such as transport and communications, from Western nations and on Wednesday said he wrote a letter to Nato outlining AU needs.
But, Konare said that he didn't want Western soldiers on the ground, which Sudanese officials regarded as invaders.
AU, UN 'on the same track'
Sudan signed a peace agreement with the main Darfur rebel group on May 05, but two other rebel factions refused to sign, further adding to mayhem that had cost at least 200 000 lives from fighting, hunger and disease.
Konare and Parry said that the AU and the UN were on the same track over the future of a UN Darfur force, which was expected to happen by the end of the year, if Sudan gave its consent.
Parry said: "We mapped out between us what we would like to see happen. At the request of the AU, the UN is prepared to take over the peacekeeping operation.
Konare said he was "confident" that this would happen, adding: "The troops are not coming to start a war with Sudan."
AU to meet with rebels
Sudan, which was an AU member, had agreed to a military planning team comprising UN and AU officials. Undersecretary-general Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of UN peacekeeping, began his mission at AU headquarters on Wednesday before heading to Sudan.
Council members reported that Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir took a tough line with council members in Khartoum on Tuesday against any kind of robust UN force, invoking the United States-led invasion of Iraq and fearing a UN mandate would give foreign troops free military reign.
On Thursday, the AU was expected to meet members of two splinter rebel groups who objected to their leaders' rejection of the peace pact.
The fighting in Darfur escalated in early 2003 between African rebel farmers and Arab tribesmen, armed by the government and blamed for many of the atrocities, including widespread rape.