/ 11 July 2007

AU faces serious funding crunch in Darfur

African Union peacekeepers in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region are facing a serious funding crunch that has affected morale ahead of deployment of a planned United Nations-AU force, the head of the joint mission said on Wednesday. Under sustained pressure, Sudan agreed last month to a combined UN-AU peacekeeping force of 20 000 troops.

African Union peacekeepers in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region are facing a serious funding crunch that has affected morale ahead of deployment of a planned United Nations-AU force, the head of the joint mission said on Wednesday.

Under sustained international pressure, Sudan agreed last month to a combined UN-AU peacekeeping force of 20 000 troops and police to bolster the cash-strapped AU force of 7 000 that is already operating in western Sudan.

But the UN said late last month the joint force was not expected to be in place for six months. In the meantime, the AU does not have the funds to meet expenses.

”The financial problem is very serious. We have personnel in the field who have not been paid for four months. This is very bad for the morale of the troops in the field,” said Rodolphe Adada, the joint UN-AU special representative for Darfur and head of the AU’s Sudan mission.

In its first major venture into peacekeeping, the AU sent thousands of troops and police to Darfur in 2004. These troops are expected to form the nucleus of a future joint force.

”One of the foundations of this hybrid mission is the work of Amis [African Union Mission in Sudan] now,” Adada told Reuters at the end of a six-day visit to Sudan.

”It is really of the greatest importance to have a good Amis mission on which we can build the hybrid mission.”

On Thursday, European Union lawmakers are expected to ask for an investigation into the delays in paying AU troops.

The EU is the largest donor to the AU mission in Sudan, contributing more than â,¬400-million.

Lack of experience

Five EU lawmakers were told during a trip to the region earlier this month that ”apparently the money is stuck in Addis Ababa”, the Ethiopian capital, where the AU headquarters is based, a European Parliament spokesperson said in Strasbourg.

The EU’s executive commission believes the delays are due to lack of experience and administrative capacity and there has been no indication of fraud, a spokesperson for EU aid, Commissioner Louis Michel, said.

”There are delays … but as far as we are aware one cannot talk about embezzlement,” the spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The EU said last month it had run out of cash for the African troops in Darfur.

Adada said he would travel via Europe on his way to the UN in New York to try to make the case for European financial support for the AU troops.

”I will go and see them and show how crucial the financing of the mission is and seek more aid from them because this will be the foundation of a sound hybrid mission,” he added.

Sudan has sent mixed signals about the joint force, saying it should be under the AU’s command and control rather than the UN, and has suggested it should be mainly African.

International experts estimate 200 000 have died in ethnic and political conflict in Darfur since the conflict flared in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms after accusing the central government of neglect.

Washington calls the violence genocide, and blames the government and its allied militia. Khartoum rejects the term and says only 9 000 have died. — Reuters