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John O'Shea, Irish Times, 29th June 2006
The Minister for Foreign Affair's duty is to press
the desperate need for UN troops in Darfur, writes John O'Shea.
Dermot Ahern will hopefully, on a trip to the Sudan
next week, get an opportunity to speak to some of the victims of
what has been described as the world's worst humanitarian tragedy.
Close to 400,000 people, many of them women and children,
have been systematically slaughtered in the Darfur region of Sudan
over the past three years. The survivors will be quick to tell Mr
Ahern of their disappointment that the international community has
abandoned their cause.
Mr Ahern's task on this journey is abundantly clear:
he must urge president Omar al-Bashir to consent to the deployment
of a United Nations peacekeeping force, with a robust mandate to
protect civilians.
Nothing else should be on Mr Ahern's agenda. For Mr
Ahern it presents an opportunity to radically change the lives of
more than three million vulnerable people. But his task is fraught
with stupendous difficulties. As late as last Tuesday, the Sudanese
president told the international community in unequivocal terms
that not a single UN soldier would set foot on Darfur soil.
Leaders from most western nations, including George
Bush and Tony Blair, are strongly in favour of the Blue Beret Brigade
being launched without delay. The African Union has called for the
brigade's participation, along with a plethora of international
human rights organisations. The moral force of Mr Ahern's determined
support for UN intervention in Darfur could prove a factor in this
ongoing saga of sorrow.
The African Union's peace and security council voted
in March to extend its mission in Darfur until September 30th, 2006,
and to "support in principle" its transformation into
a UN force. Mr al-Bashir's insistence that a UN mission will not
be allowed into Darfur is the only obstacle.
It was hoped that Sudan would allow the UN to take
over the under-resourced African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur
once a peace deal was signed. But Mr al-Bashir has repeatedly warned
he will turn Darfur into "a graveyard" for western troops,
accusing the West of seeking to "recolonise Sudan" - even
though a UN force of almost 10,000 is already in Sudan to support
the 2005 peace agreement which ended the 21-year war waged mostly
in the south.
The African Union has transferred to UN forces in
Burundi and elsewhere in Africa; why should Sudan be different?
Indeed the deployment of a strong UN peacekeeping contingent in
Darfur is essential for the success of the May 5th peace agreement,
signed between the Sudanese government and one faction of the Sudan
Liberation Movement/Army (SLA), led by Minni Minawi.
Minawi's faction is militarily more potent than the
rest of the SLA, but is itself splintering in the wake of the peace
agreement. The more popular faction of the SLA, led by Abdul Wahid
Mohamed Nur, remains outside the agreement, as does the Justice
& Equality Movement (JEM), militarily powerless and lacking
grassroots support in Darfur, but with a pan-Sudanese agenda and
links to opposition forces in other regions of Sudan.
But the agreement does not provide effective measures
for protecting civilians and in any case, it is disputed and unlikely
to be implemented fully in the near future.
A violent new battle now rages between splintering
rebel factions in the wake of the peace deal - undoubtedly welcome
news to the Sudanese government. Now, according to respected analysts,
not only will Khartoum be better able to blame rebels for the continuing
violence, but the Darfur situation is likely to be portrayed as
complicated, deterring international support for strong intervention.
Last week Sudan suspended UN operations (excluding
the work of the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund)
in the western region of Darfur, accusing the UN Mission in Sudan
of exceeding its mandate by transporting the commander of a rebel
group. Although the Sudanese government reversed its decision two
days later, the incident highlights the lengths to which it will
go to to prove a political point - putting the lives of the region's
most vulnerable on the line.
Meanwhile, inside Darfur, the risk to civilians is
greater now than at any time since the conflict started, as all
sides - armed groups as well as government forces and government-backed
militia - are involved in attacking civilians with impunity. As
the humanitarian crisis has grown more desperate, humanitarian access
is at its poorest in three years in a region where 3.4 million people
- more than half of Darfur's entire population - are now reliant
on humanitarian aid.
Security in much of the countryside has virtually
collapsed, staff are in growing danger and humanitarian workers
are being pulled out. Cars are being hijacked, military clashes
are widespread and banditry reigns, making it impossible to get
aid to where it is needed. Parts of rural Darfur are completely
inaccessible for aid agencies.
GOAL has been unable to access our 11 clinics in much
of the region, cutting off a lifeline to some 200,000 people. We
continue to monitor the situation, and are currently assessing the
prospects of continuing our programmes.
Nearly one in three people in Darfur have fled their homes and now
languish in officially established camps for displaced persons,
where civilians have been attacked. A further 200,000 refugees from
Darfur are in camps over the border in Chad.
The conflict continues to destabilise and debilitate
the entire region. On his return, Mr Ahern must take the battle
to the decision-makers - the leaders of Russia and China. Neither
country wants to see UN troops in Darfur, as that would conflict
with their commercial involvement in that area.
It would be useful also if our Minister for Foreign
Affairs was to make a return visit to the White House and try and
convince President Bush to exert pressure on the Sudanese authorities.
Were Mr Ahern to have a meaningful role in bringing peace to Darfur,
this nation and the international community at large would be in
his debt.
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