U.N. force in Darfur must protect civilians, church worker says

Published: 2007-08-08

NYALA, Sudan (CNS) -- The decision by the United Nations to send peacekeeping troops to the Darfur region of Sudan will fail to put an end to years of bloodshed unless the peacekeepers come with a clear mandate to protect civilians, said an official of an ecumenical relief effort in Nyala. After seven months of negotiations with the Sudanese government, the U.N. Security Council voted July 31 to send 26,000 peacekeepers to Darfur. They will not all arrive until sometime next year, provided the U.N. can come up with the troops and the estimated $2 billion needed to deploy them. The U.N. soldiers and police will absorb a beleaguered African Union contingent of 7,000 troops that has failed to stop what many -- including the U.S. Congress -- consider genocide. Yet Adam Ateem, director of peace-building and protection activities for the ecumenical Darfur Emergency Response Operation, told Catholic News Service that the U.N. force will fail unless it learns a lesson from the African Union's experience. "The A.U. force had a very vulnerable mandate. They could monitor and report only. The militias and the rebels and the government knew this, and they could do whatever they wanted," Ateem said. "If the U.N. force comes with a weak mandate, they won't be able to do anything."

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .