Darfur peacekeepers 'close to failing'

The UN-led Darfur peacekeeping mission is on the "brink of failure" because barely a third of the troops promised to it have been deployed, according to a report released on July 28 by more than 50 Africa-focused NGOs. A year ago this week, the UN Security Council approved a 26,000-strong force to take over from the failing African Union-led operation in western Sudan. But since officially deploying on Jan. 1, the joint UN-AU mission, known as UNAMID, has added only 600 troops and policeman, leaving the force with 9,479 uniformed peacekeepers. The report by the Darfur Consortium says the UNAMID mission has achieved no more than its predecessor in protecting civilians, humanitarian workers and its own soldiers. From January to June, more than 190,000 people were displaced in Darfur and there were more hijackings of aid vehicles than in the whole of 2007. Seven UNAMID soldiers were killed in an ambush this month. Dismas Nkunda, spokesperson for the Darfur Consortium, said the international community was guilty of "empty words and broken promises." "One year ago the UN security council stood unanimous and promised Darfurians the strongest and largest protection force ever. The truth is stark but simple, the international community's failure to act is costing lives." The report says a glaring example of the lack of resources allocated to the UNAMID mission is the fact that many of the former AU peacekeepers did not even receive the blue helmets denoting a UN operation. Instead, they had to paint their old helmets, or tie blue plastic bags around them. The force is short of 18 transport helicopters, four tactical helicopters, and six armored personnel carriers. The report's authors say that Sudan's government, whose central role in the five-year crisis was highlighted by the war crimes charges leveled by the international criminal court against the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, this month, had stalled troop deployment and the clearance of equipment through customs. The UN and AU security councils were criticized for allowing this to happen, while donor nations and troop-contributing countries were accused of failing to fulfill pledges to support the mission. The peacekeepers could be doing more to protect the more than 4 million vulnerable people in Darfur, the report says. It highlights three recent attacks on civilians and aid workers by government troops and militias where nearby UNAMID forces had failed to react with force, as their mandate allows.