EU stepping in to help boost Darfur peacekeeping effort

By David Cronin

Date: 21/04/05

OFFICIALS at the Council of Ministers are drawing up a plan on how the EU can help the African Union perform better its peacekeeping task in Sudan, after a report has found that the mission is only operating at a fraction of its full capacity.

An unpublished report by an assessment mission says that the 2,300-strong African Union military force in Darfur is operating at half of its full capacity. The civil police contingent of the peacekeeping effort is performing even worse, with just 120 of the 815 officers envisaged actually deployed when the EU assessment was undertaken last month.

The analysis was requested by Said Djinnit, the African Union's commissioner for peace and security. It was drawn up following a visit to Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Darfur by representatives of the EU's military staff, the European Commission and the Council.

Its report concludes that co-ordination between police and military planning has been insufficient and that peacekeepers have been handicapped by a lack of vehicles, maps and communications equipment. The role of the head of the peacekeeping mission Baba Gana Kingibe is judged to be unclear, with the support he receives from the force's planning offices in Addis and Khartoum described as "inadequate".

A review is to be held tomorrow (22 April) on whether the shortfalls identified are being addressed.

The African Union and UN have estimated that the peacekeeping mission should have 12,300 military, police and civilian personnel if those uprooted by the conflict are to be returned home in time for the Spring 2006 crop planting season.

The EU report says that at current strength the peacekeepers will be unable to have full coverage of Darfur. It adds that the April 2004 ceasefire accord between the Sudanese government and rebel leaders is being breached and "the general level of insecurity in Darfur remains unacceptable".

Article reports that officials at the Council of Ministers were drawing up a plan on how the EU could help the African Union perform better its peacekeeping task in Sudan, after a report had found that the mission was only operating at a fraction of its full capacity. An unpublished report by an assessment mission said that the 2,300-strong African Union military force in Darfur was operating at half of its full capacity.