New Darfur peacekeeping chief confident mission will launch on target

From the AP...

A large and complex peacekeeping operation planned for Darfur will launch on time, and could, within mere months, improve the security situation in the wartorn region of western Sudan, the mission's head said.

Rodolphe Adada, chief of the United Nations and African Union joint mission to Darfur, said [that] contributing nations have already committed more than the 26,000 required troops for the force, and he expects the peacekeepers to deploy in October.

"That won't mean [that] we'll have all the elements of the force on the ground, but we'll be operational," he said in an interview with The Associated Press late [on] Sunday.

The joint mission will take over from an AU force of 7,000 currently in Darfur, and Adada said [that] he expected to begin operating with some 10,000 troops, including the African contingents already in place.

He said [that] the joint mission, called UNAMID, would meet the deadline set by the U.N. Security Council to replace the AU by Dec. 31.

"Hopefully, we'll be in full gear by March (2008)," Adada said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who visited Darfur last week to press for an end to the conflict, has warned that UNAMID faces "enormously complex" logistical challenges. And some observers are skeptical [that] such a large force will manage to deploy on time.

Darfur civilians have grown increasingly frustrated with the AU's lack of protection since it initially came in June 2004. They hope [that] the new, hybrid U.N.-AU force's ability to secure refugee camps and towns will be a key factor to bring back stability.

One of the main weaknesses of the AU's current force is a mandate more focused on monitoring violence than preventing it. Adada said [that] the UNAMID's rules of engagement, under which troops are allowed to shoot, will provide for stronger protection.

The resolution that created UNAMID includes some clauses under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter — which allows for the strongest use of force — and U.N. diplomats say [that] the mission's rules of engagement should be signed on Sept. 21, when the U.N. Assembly General gathers.

The deployment will come as a new peace conference between Darfur rebel groups and the Sudanese government launches on Oct. 27 in Libya. At least one leading rebel chief, Abdel Wahid Elnur, has said [that] he would refuse to take part in peace negotiations before U.N. peacekeepers are fully in place.

The previous peace deal, signed in May 2006 between one rebel group and Sudan's central government, is viewed as largely ineffective at reducing violence in Darfur, where over 200,000 people have died since fighting began four years ago.

"Bringing security will be our top priority. Everything else will proceed from that," said Adada, 61, who was Foreign Minister of the Republic of Congo, in central Africa, before his appointment to UNAMID.

He said [that] 6,000 police and troops would immediately focus on pacifying Darfur's sprawling refugee camps, where 2.5 million people — over a third of Darfur's population — now live.

With a total of about 31,000 staff — nearly 20,000 soldiers, 6,000 police, and 5,000 civilians — the mission will be one of the largest ever launched by the United Nations. Its initial budget will run at over US$2.5 billion a year, Adada says, and seven camps have to be built [in order] to house the force in Darfur, a semi-desert and landlocked region that lacks most basic infrastructures.

There also remain several unknowns about how to manage a force under the joint oversight of the U.N. and of the African Union, which is without precedent. Sudan's government had rejected a previous Security Council resolution for a U.N. peacekeeping force last year, and the current hybrid mission was only accepted after several months of negotiations to guarantee that the mission would have a predominantly African character.

AU chairman Alpha Oumar Konare stated last month that African nations had offered enough troops to compose all of UNAMID. But some of the proposed forces don't have the appropriate gear, and Adada said [that] his mission, though remaining predominantly African, would probably include as many as 90 nationalities.

Engineering corps and helicopter units would likely come from other continents, and the mission is still lacking some firm commitments on equipment such as armored vehicles, he said.

In New York on Monday, the U.N. chief also said [that] the force would need specialized assistance, even though UNAMID had received "even more contributions than we may actually need."

"But still we are lacking in the specialized areas, like air transportation and experts in finance," Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "We'd like to have contributions from non-African Union countries, particularly European countries."

Commenting on oversight for the force, Adada said, "I will report jointly to the (U.N.) Secretary General and to the AU." But, he noted, "day-to-day operations will fully follow U.N. procedures ... like any other U.N. operation in the world."

Khartoum has in the past repeatedly hindered peacekeeping or humanitarian efforts in Darfur, where the United Nations and the International Criminal Court at The Hague accuse Sudan's government of having masterminded most of violence against civilians.

But Adada said [that] the Sudanese government had guaranteed to cooperate with the new mission. "I have no reason to fear for the future," he said.