Shortage of AU peacekeepers for Darfur/China’s visit to Sudan/Links between conflicts in Darfur and Chad

Posted by Sappho on February 7th, 2007 filed in Africa news and blogwatch, Darfur/Chad/Central African Republic

The African Union, stretched thin by the demand for peacekeepers in both Darfur and Somalia, does not have enough troops to meet the United Nations target for deployment in Darfur. And the peacekeepers who are already there continue to go months without pay. Meanwhile, attacks on aid workers in Darfur have increased 67% within the last year. And child soldiers are increasingly being used in Darfur.

The Sudanese president has named two former rebels to administrative posts in Darfur.

Contradicting Sudanese president al-Bashir’s account of Chinese presiident Hu’s visit, Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya says that Hu

… broke with his government’s traditional policy of non-interference in a nation’s internal affairs by telling Sudan last week to accept a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission to Darfur …

There’s a large gap between this account and al-Bashir’s statement that Hu

renewed his commitment to offering full support to my government to enable it to implement its declared Darfur programme, particularly after he was briefed on our position which advocates dialogue and a peaceful settlement.

An interesting discussion of ethnicity in Sudan from Drima: Sudan: Arab or African?

A presentation on Darfur by the Colin Thomas-Jensen, Africa Advocacy and Research Manager for International Crisis Group, discusses the links between the conflict in Darfur and in Chad:

Thomas-Jensen emphasized how instability and violence in Darfur continue to spread to neighboring Chad and Central African Republic. He described how security has deteriorated on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border, with rebels from both Chad and Darfur targeting the civilian population in the south and up to 100,000 Chadian civilians displaced in the north. He argued that achieving stability in the broader region will depend on resolving the crisis in Darfur, and that attempts to contain the conflict from across the border in Chad and CAR are unlikely to succeed.

Explaining the complicated alliances between governments and rebel groups in the region, Thomas-Jensen said that the main Chadian rebel group, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development, is known to be fully backed by Khartoum. He emphasized that although the UFDD is not currently able to pose a major threat to Idriss Déby’s regime in N’Djamena, with prolonged backing by Khartoum it may acquire the capacity to do so.

Meanwhile, the Chadian government and military continue to support rebel groups in Darfur, including the Justice and Equality Movement which Thomas-Jensen said now appears to be the major security presence in the town of Abéché in eastern Chad. JEM’s increased ties to Déby’s regime mean that the international community will have to take its newfound influence into account when negotiating a peace deal, he said.

The Chadian army is now fighting rebels in the eastern border town of Adre. And here’s an account of what life is like among the displaced in eastern Chad.

After Kenya turned down a request from the Lord’s Resistance Army to shift its talks from Juba to Nairobi, South Africa also seems to be reluctant to be the new venue.