‘Inability to deliver’ puts EU’s international reputation at risk

By David Cronin

Date: 16/03/06

The EU is at risk of "losing credibility" with the wider international community by only partly honouring its commitments to support African-led peacekeeping efforts in Sudan, a Council of Ministers' report has warned.

Written by aides to Javier Solana, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, the internal paper notes that the EU had agreed to provide the African Union with 16 military observers to support a ceasefire commission in Sudan's Darfur region over the past year. So far, however, only 11 of these observers have been deployed and without fresh offers from EU member states, the number could fall to two by next month.

Similarly, the Union had agreed to deploy 25 military staff officers to help the African Union mission for its whole operation in Darfur, a province the size of France. Just 17 of these have been provided, with the number likely to fall to 13 in April.

"The EU's inability to deliver puts it in danger of losing credibility with both the African Union and other international partners at a time when maximum support should be provided to AMIS [the African Union Mission in Sudan]," the paper says.

The paper was drafted before last weekend's decision by the African Union to extend its 7,000-troop peacekeeping in Sudan until the end of September. Although Kofi Annan, the United Nations' secretary-general, has recommended that the mission should be placed under UN control, the Khartoum government has insisted that only African troops should be stationed in Darfur, where a three-year conflict has displaced more than two million people.

The EU paper gives 1 January 2007 as the earliest likely date for a UN handover. A relatively long transition period would boost the likelihood of the African Union brokering a peace deal in the Abuja talks, between the Khartoum authorities and rebel forces, the paper says.

Nonetheless, it argues that it would not be prudent to support any expansion of the African mission, as the African Union is "not currently capable of commanding and sustaining a larger force".

EU foreign ministers are to discuss the situation in Sudan at their meeting in Brussels next week (20-21 March).

Pekka Haavisto, the EU's special representative for Sudan, said it was "frustrating that we are lagging behind our timetable" in supporting the African mission.

But he added that he "wouldn't go so far" as to claim that this was damaging the EU's credibility. No blame can be apportioned to any single EU government for failing to provide logistical support, he added, saying that one of the main problems was to find replacements for military and police officers who have returned home after completing their stints with the mission.

Ulrich Delius, a Sudan specialist with the German Society for Threatened Peoples, said the EU's "credibility is certainly low".

It had failed, he said, to take "any meaningful action" such as imposing an oil embargo against the Sudanese government. Khartoum has been accused of arming the Janjaweed Arab militias, which have carried out a mass campaign of rape, arson and murder across Darfur.

Article reports on an internal Council report which said that the EU was at risk of 'losing credibility' with the wider international community by only partly honouring its commitments to support African-led peacekeeping efforts in Sudan.

Coucnil of the EU: Foreign Policy: Third countries and regions: EU-Africa relations http://consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=400&lang=en&mode=g

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