The African Union plans to transform a small force it was due to send to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region into a 2Â 000-strong peacekeeping mission, an AU official said on Wednesday.
The pan-African body was already planning to send about 300 troops to Darfur to protect its team of observers and monitors overseeing the implementation of a shaky ceasefire deal between the Khartoum government and rebel groups.
“We are considering, with Nigeria and Rwanda, the possibility of sending two battalions, which makes approximately 2Â 000 men,” AU spokesperson Adam Thiam said by phone from Addis Ababa, where the body’s headquarters are located.
Discussions with the two countries, the only African nations that have confirmed that they will contribute troops, “are very advanced”, Thiam said, adding that the force “is evolving into a mission to maintain peace … with probable logistical support from the United States”,
Nigeria and Rwanda “have agreed to send a battalion” each, Thiam added.
“Tanzania, which has also been approached, is interested to take part in this force”, while Botswana has declined any participation, he added.
The role of the new force will be “to protect [AU] observers and civilians returning to their homes”, Thiam added.
The first batch of 300 troops, whose deployment in Darfur was delayed from the end of July by logistical problems, “will be deployed before August 15”, he said.
The Darfur region has been riven by conflict since February last year and the United Nations has described the situation there as the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis.
Up to 50Â 000 people have died and more than a million been driven from their homes since ethnic minority rebels — the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement — launched an uprising early last year against the Sudanese army and its Arab militia allies, the Janjaweed.
The fighting has displaced 1,2-million people, with about 200Â 000 Sudanese fleeing to camps in the region of eastern Chad, where their security is also precarious.
Currently, the AU has about 120 observers in Darfur, overseeing the implementation of a ceasefire that was signed in April but which has often been violated. — Sapa-AFP
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