05-10-06,9:22am
ABUJA, 9 May 2006 (IRIN) - The force commander of the African Union Mission in Darfur (AMIS) has urged a quick and significant deployment of United Nations troops in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur to help implement a peace deal struck in the Nigerian capital late last week.
The groundbreaking deal, signed by Sudan and the biggest of the three rebel groups involved in the three-year conflict, provides for the disarmament of the Darfur rebels as well as Janjawid militia.
But with the current number of AMIS troops in Darfur now under 7,000 Major-General Collins Ihekire said help was needed. 'Liberia has 15,000 (UN peacekeepers) and we have Darfur that is three times the size of Liberia - that is why we are calling on the international community to note this.
“Expand the current force by bringing in UN troops. The security of Darfur is of paramount importance to all of us now,” he told a small group of reporters. AMIS will be responsible for disarming, encamping and demobilising rebel fighters. The Janjawid are expected to be dismantled by the Sudanese government.
After winning last-minute concessions from Khartoum at mammoth talks that lasted through the week in Abuja, the faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) led by Minni Minnawi bowed to international pressure and agreed 'with reservations' to sign up to peace. But two smaller groups refused, demanding more concessions from Khartoum.
'Sign now and let peace reign,' Ihekire urged both the rival SLM/A faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed el-Nur - who is from Darfur’s largest tribe, the Fur, and thus a key player in the conflict - and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
AU officials said the two rebel factions had until 15 May to sign on to the deal, clinched after more than two years of talks in Abuja.
And at Friday’s signing ceremony, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who played a decisive role in wresting a peace deal, appealed to the dissenters to reconsider. “Those who feel unable to sign today, we will continue to appeal to them, to address them to see the reason why they need to sign on behalf of the people they claim to lead.”
Commenting Monday on fears that the refusal of the two groups will scupper the accord, General Ihekire said: 'We are watching for those who will want war and a continuous fight [and] we are welcoming the idea of sending in the UN troops because we want all hands to be on deck.'
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, who is in the region, this weekend too called for the strengthening of the AU peacekeeping force ahead of a planned deployment of a UN mission in the Darfur region, where conditions among civilians displaced by conflict have deteriorated as violence escalated.
'We need a real strengthening of the AU force in the interim period,' Egeland said after visiting the town of Gereida in South Darfur.
The pan-African body on 10 March extended the mandate of the African Union Mission in Sudan until 30 September, after which it would transfer the operation to the UN. However, the Sudanese government has been reluctant to allow the deployment of UN troops to its territory.
The UN estimates that 3.6 million people are affected by conflict in Darfur, of whom 1.8 million are internally displaced and 200,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad. More than 200,000 people have been killed as a result of violence between the Sudanese government and rebel movements.
Last Friday’s signing in Abuja, which opened a fresh ceasefire on the ground, ended with a note of high drama when a splinter group from el-Nur’s SLM/A faction suddenly broke away to join the peace camp. The group was led by Abdulrahman Musa.
Obasanjo called the signing a “defining moment” and said: “This is the triumph of Africa doing what it should be doing with the support of the international community.”
But he warned that unless there is “the right spirit, the right attitude and the right disposition this document will not be worth the paper it is written on.'
