Monday, August 13, 2007
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Aug 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations and African Union member states are to commit troops by Aug. 30 for a 26,000 strong mission in Sudan's Darfur region.
But a smaller peacekeeping mission in Somalia has yet to muster the 8,000 forces African countries said in January it needed. Critics say the Horn of Africa conflict risks being overshadowed by the push to deploy peacekeepers in Darfur.
Here are some details on the competing peacekeeping priorities in Somalia and Sudan:
* SOMALIA:
-- Violence in Somalia flared in June 2006 when Islamists took over Mogadishu and went on to capture a large swathe of the country. Government and Ethiopian troops drove out the Islamists in late 2006 but since then fighting has continued as insurgents try to topple the government and force out the Ethiopians.
-- Civilian deaths range from 400 to 1,300, Human Rights watch said, with an estimated 400,000 people driven from their homes. HRW said the civilian toll was "catastrophic".
-- A small AU force, manned by just 1,600 Ugandans who arrived in March, the supposed vanguard of an expected force of 8,000 soldiers, has failed to stop the bloodshed.
-- Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi urged the U.N. Security Council at the end of June 2007 to send peacekeepers to his country, but council members told him they wanted to see political progress toward peace first. Diplomats said all 15 council members except Congo Republic were cautious about U.N. peacekeepers, although they expressed support for the transitional Somali government.
-- The European Commission's representative for Somalia also recently said a continuing ceasefire was indispensable before a bigger peacekeeping effort could be introduced.
-- Gedi said however it was not fair to say, "Make peace and I will come and keep it" and asked that the AU's Somalia mission, AMISOM, be transformed into a U.N. mission.
-- Clashes between insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government troops have intensified in July and August, even as Somalia hosts a peace conference aimed at bringing warring factions together. Recent full-scale conflict has given way to almost daily guerrilla-style attacks.
-- Ethiopia says it will leave Somalia when there are enough AU peacekeepers to ensure stability.
SUDAN:
-- Fighting broke out in Sudan's Darfur region in February 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against the government charging it with neglect. The government responded with attacks and by arming mostly Arab militias -- known locally as Janjaweed -- to put down the rebellion.
-- International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since 2003 in what the United States calls genocide. Khartoum denies genocide has occurred and says only 9,000 people have died.
-- African Union troops were deployed as peacekeepers in Sudan in 2004 after a ceasefire was declared but it has been violated frequently, with fighting blamed on government troops, rebels and Janjaweed militias. The force itself was underfunded and ill equipped and unable to stop the violence.
-- The United Nations, at the urging of the United States and Great Britain, pushed for international troops to be deployed in Darfur but Khartoum repeatedly objected.
-- However after years of talks and threats of sanctions, the Sudanese government agreed in July to a joint U.N.-AU 26,000-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur, but it said most of the troops should come from Africa.
-- Countries must commit troops to the U.N.-AU mission by Aug 30. The AU said last week five African nations -- Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon and Ethiopia -- had pledged troops, while Senegal and South Africa have said they will send more.
-- The AU's top diplomat, Alpha Oumar Konare, said in Khartoum on Sunday there were enough African troops committed that non-Africans were not needed. He also said the United Nations had to fund the force.
Source: Reuters, Aug 13, 2007