Translated material
Double-headed peacekeepers
The UN and the African Union will work together to tackle Darfur
A four-day meeting of representatives of the UN and the African Union (AU) will open today in the Tanzanian city of Arusha. They will clarify the framework of the grandiose peacekeeping operation, which is due to begin at the end of the year in the Sudanese province of Darfur, engulfed in a humanitarian catastrophe.The day before, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution number 1769 on sending peacekeeping forces to Darfur. The mission in Sudan will be the largest among modern international peacekeeping operations. 20 thousand military personnel and 6 thousand police will act on the basis of the joint mandate of the UN and the AU. Their responsibilities include the protection of local civilians and international humanitarian aid workers.
The original draft spoke of the participation of peacekeepers in the seizure of illegal weapons, but this clause was removed at the request of Sudan. Indeed, in the Darfur conflict, local separatists are opposed not only by the regular army, but also by the pro-government units of the Arab Janjaweed militia. Khartoum authorities do not want peacekeepers to disarm their supporters.
Darfur province in western Sudan became the scene of clashes between local separatists and government forces in 2003. Since then, more than 200 thousand people have become victims of the fighting and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe. More than 2 million have fled their homes and sought refuge, including in neighboring Chad. A peace agreement was signed between Khartoum and separatist leaders in 2006, but not all rebel groups joined it.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the adopted resolution “historic and unprecedented.” Moscow is also pleased with the decision of the UN Security Council. The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled yesterday that “Russia took an active part in agreeing on the draft of this resolution in order to ensure its balance and realism.” “The most important element of the resolution is confirmation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan, as well as a call on all Darfur parties to comply with the ceasefire agreement and renounce the practice of violence,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At the beginning of the year , Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not rule out the participation of Russian peacekeepers in the operation in Darfur . “It will only be necessary to determine the optimal parameters for such participation after its mandate is approved,” he said. So far, the Foreign Ministry’s statement on this matter only says that “Russia is firmly committed to making an effective contribution to improving the situation in the Sudanese province of Darfur in strict accordance with the adopted resolution.”
The future peacekeeping operation is called “hybrid”, as it provides for an equal combination of the UN and AU mandates. Its terms are currently set at 12 months. By October 27, command and control structures must be in place in Darfur so that a full-scale operation can begin no later than December 31, 2007. The “hybrid mission” will replace the 7,000-strong African Union mission currently in Darfur.
The main obstacle to the adoption of the resolution was the position of China, which maintains close relations with the central Sudanese government in Khartoum. “The negative position of the Chinese is based on Beijing’s economic interests,” Vladimir Shubin, deputy director of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Vremya Novostey. “According to the latest geological surveys, there are oil reserves in Darfur, and Chinese companies are actively involved in their exploration. “In addition, the Chinese have very good relations with official Khartoum, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from the very beginning opposed international interference in the affairs of his country.”
Chinese business came to Sudan in 1997, immediately after the US authorities imposed a ban on the work of American oil companies in this country. Over ten years, China has invested almost $3 billion in Sudan, and 5% of Chinese oil imports come from Sudanese fields, even without taking into account newly discovered reserves in Darfur. At the same time, China is the largest supplier of weapons to Sudan.
“The Sudanese government and some African states, not without reason, believed that if this was a purely UN mission, more or less controlled by the United States, then active interference in internal Sudanese affairs would begin. As a result, al-Bashir agreed to the deployment of the mission only after it was given the character of a joint UN-AU operation. Moreover, it is the AU that is entrusted with the main political role, while the role of the UN is reduced mainly to observation and logistics. The Sudanese government agreed to such a compromise,” the expert emphasized. “The resolution is practical. It addresses most of our concerns. We are satisfied with the resolution,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said yesterday.
While the Chinese aim to control Darfur's oil fields with the support of Khartoum, local anti-government rebels seek to achieve this goal with the support of other external forces. According to some observers, the United States is behind them, dissatisfied with Bashir’s Islamic government and its ties with the Chinese. “It is hardly a coincidence that a surge in anti-government protests in western Sudan occurred three or four years ago, when test drilling in oil reservoirs began in Darfur,” Mr. Shubin noted.