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US envoy
hopeful of more Darfur peacekeepers
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KHARTOUM(August
14,2008) - International peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur
region look set to receive substantial reinforcements after months
of under-manning, the U.S. envoy to Sudan said on Tuesday.
Richard Williamson last month criticised both the United Nations and
Sudan for the slow roll-out of the joint U.N./African Union UNAMID
peacekeeping force, which currently has only 9,900 of the 26,000 soldiers
and police officers promised at the beginning of the year.
But sounding a rare note of optimism on peace efforts in the war-torn
region, Williamson said on Tuesday he had seen "specific plans"
to increase troop numbers.
"Unfortunately performance has not been acceptable to date,"
he told reporters, half-way through a week-long visit to Sudan.
"But we have reason to be encouraged and hopeful that the pace
of the past will be reversed and we will see substantially more peacekeepers
here in Darfur."
He said he had been shown the expansion plans by U.N officials in
New York and during a visit to UNAMID's headquarters in El Fasher,
Darfur on Monday.
Both the U.N. and Sudan have come under sustained criticism for the
slow deployment of the UNAMID force, which is supposed to keep the
peace in a region the size of France.
International experts say some 200,000 people have died and and 2.5
million have been made homeless in Darfur since rebels took up arms
against the government five years ago. Sudan puts the death count
at around 10,000.
Analysts have accused Khartoum of obstructing the peacekeeping deployment
by delaying key agreements and refusing to accept non-African troops.
Williamson last month said the U.N.'s procedures were too inflexible
to cope with the situation in Darfur.
UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni on Tuesday accepted there had been
delays in the deployment, blaming poor infrastructure on the ground,
but said officials were aiming to have 80 per cent of the force in
place by the end of the year.
The last of an advance guard for two new Egyptian battalions arrived
in Sudan on Tuesday, he said, adding that a similar Ethiopian operation
was due to start next week.
Williamson said there also signs of new life in Darfur's long and
troubled peace process.
"I think there is a serious reassessment going on about how to
energise a peace process in Darfur," he said after a meeting
with Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor. |
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