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Darfuris welcome UN-AU force
14/02/2008 10:13 - (SA)
Ardamata Camp - Dusty Darfuri children dashed after the United Nations and African Union vehicles laughing and copying new Philippino police who gave good-natured peace signs.
"They used to throw stones at us," said one former African Union officers who was on patrol.
The joint peacekeeping force took over from a struggling AU mission on December 31 and the verdict from thousands of Darfuris was they were doing a good job with more interaction, day and night patrols and a new vigour about their work.
While they were far short of the 26 000 police and troops eventually due to deploy in the world's largest UN-funded peacekeeping operation, the change had been received well.
"Before we would see the cars moving, but would never meet them (the AU)," said Ardamata camp spokesperson Mariam Abdullahi Bakhiet. "There is a big difference and they help us out a lot."
42 new civilian police sent to mission
She said new night patrols from the UN force had stopped militia, locally called Janjaweed, from coming into camps like Ardamata in West Darfur at night and shooting or beating people.
"They (the UN-AU patrol) sometimes come at night and they (the Janjaweed) are afraid of them and don't come," she said.
The Philippines had sent 42 new civilian police to the mission who on Wednesday went on their first patrol into the camps. Bangladeshi police had also been deployed.
They received a warning from the officer in charge to ensure they had an exit strategy during patrols as camp residents might mistake them for Chinese engineers, who many rejected as they viewed Beijing as supporting Khartoum's counter-insurgency campaign.
While they looked slightly concerned, they still threw themselves into the task with fervour, waving at everyone they passed in the car and greeting everyone in the dirt streets.
Largest humanitarian operation
Instead of the thumbs-up and "okay" which aid workers from the world's largest humanitarian operation taught children in the camps, the Philippinos taught them the "peace" sign.
The AU was viewed with suspicion by many Darfuris as they mediated a 2006 peace deal, which most people rejected. That coupled with its inability to stem attacks on civilians pushed frustrated people to burn AU bases in several camps.
But many in the new joint force, called UNAMID, voiced concerns about high expectations Darfuris had that they could protect them.
Since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing government of neglect, 2.5 million had been driven from their homes and experts estimated 200 000 had died.
The force's composition was still only at 9 000 strength and was almost entirely the old AU mission with new blue caps. But UN systems were being put into place and there is a revived energy around the camps of soldiers under new leadership.
"The people here have a very high expectation for UNAMID even though it is just one month and two weeks old," said UNAMID Ardamata Camp Coordinator Dembo Trawally.
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