Agence France-Presse,
Sudan accepted Tuesday the deployment of a joint African Union-United Nations force for Darfur, in a move to end violence and bring humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged western Sudanese region.
A joint statement by the AU, the UN and Sudan said the Khartoum government had “accepted the joint proposals of the hybrid operation” and that delegates at the three-way talks had agreed on the need for a comprehensive ceasefire accompanied by a inclusive political process.
“The proposed operation would contribute considerably to the stabilisation of the situation in Darfur, in its political, humanitarian and security dimensions,” said the statement read by the AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit in the Ethiopian capital.
UN chief Ban Ki-Moon hailed Sudan's acceptance of a joint African Union-UN force.
“The secretary general welcomes today's positive conclusion of the high-level AU-UN consultations with the government of Sudan (in Addis Ababa) on the hybrid operation and looks forward to expeditiously implementing the three-phase approach to peacekeeping in Darfur,” UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement released in New York.
But the United States expressed skepticism. Pointing out that Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir had previously reneged on commitments about accepting such a force, the US State Department said any acceptance would depend on the “fine print” of the agreement.
Khartoum had previously rejected attempts to send UN peacekeepers to Darfur, where a four-year conflict has killed at least 200,000 people and forced more than two million from their homes, according to the UN.
There are currently around 7,000 AU peacekeepers in Darfur but they have been unable to halt the clashes in a region the size of France because of a severe shortage of funding and equipment.
Sudan's delegate to the talks, Mutrif Seddik, said his government's position on an AU-UN force had been misunderstood, adding that Khartoum backed the proposal last November and what was needed were “some declarations and clarifications.”
Sudan had accepted two phases of a three-phase plan proposed last year for peacekeeping operations in Darfur but had not signed off on the details of the final phase.
“Now we have the shape, the mandate, the command and control — the components of the hybrid force. It is a good move toward peace in Darfur,” Seddik told AFP Tuesday.
Dimitri Titov, the head of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, said the hybrid force would comprise some 17,500 to 19,600 troops in addition to more than 6,000 policemen.
The UN envoy said the Darfur peacekeeping efforts would be a “lasting, daunting, dangerous operation,” calling for “a lot of dedication.”
The UN Security Council was to be briefed on the outcome of the tripartite Addis Ababa talks Wednesday.
US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, who had threatened to push for tougher UN sanctions, including the imposition of a no-fly zone over Darfur if Khartoum did not accept the so-called “hybrid” force, gave a guarded welcome.
“If this is a clear, unconditional acceptance of the AU-UN concept it's welcome,” he said.
“Now we move to the implementation, which is another issue that has been there in the past where there has been acceptance and then implementation has been a problem.”
Regarding Sudan's insistence that the joint force be mainly composed of African troops, Ban's spokeswoman Montas told a press briefing that this would depend on availability.
“We have always said consistently that we would use as many African troops as we can possibly get,” she said.
Senegal announced Tuesday that it was ready to send more troops to Darfur “to show that the Africans themselves can take charge of this matter,” in the words of Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio.
Dakar currently has about 500 soldiers among the 7,000 AU peacekeeping troops. It would make efforts to boost its contingent despite demands for soldiers from countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Liberia, Gadio told journalists.
According to the Sudanese government, some 9,000 people have died since war erupted in Darfur in early 2003 when ethnic minority rebels rose up against it.
The Janjaweed militia group was then enlisted to help crush the rebellion — although Khartoum denies that charge.
Sudan reached a peace agreement with Darfur rebels on May 5, 2006 in Nigeria but only one of three negotiating rebel factions endorsed the deal.
The violence has since spiralled, hindering effective humanitarian operations. In addition, the fragmentation of the Darfur rebels has scuppered efforts to stabilise the region.
