Trouble in Sudan's Darfur region: The perils of peacekeeping

The UN is caught between squabbling rebels and a ruthless government
Aug 12th 2010 | khartoum

PITY the United Nations Africa Mission in Darfur, better known by its acronym UNAMID. Despite its best intentions, it has come in for regular criticism since the very start of its task in January 2008. A hybrid combination of peacekeepers under the joint aegis of the UN and the African Union, its 22,000 or so soldiers and policemen have been accused of doing more to protect each other than the wretched displaced Darfuris they were sent to defend. Aid-workers, Darfuris and the Sudanese government have all been loth to trust them. However, for all UNAMID’s flaws, it has improved security a little, at least in the main towns. But now the peacekeeping mission faces a choice which could cost it the last of its credibility.

Late last month fighting broke out in Kalma, a vast camp for internally displaced people near the town of Nyala in south Darfur. It is home to more than 100,000 angry residents, many of them previously victims of the deadly government-supported militias known as the janjaweed. The recent violence flared between supporters of two different rebel groups, a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur, and the Liberty and Justice Movement (LJM). The SLA is boycotting the current round of Darfur peace talks being chaired by the Qataris in their capital, Doha, while LJM, a coalition of several minor rebel movements, is the only rebel group attending the talks with representatives from the Sudanese government.

Several people were killed in the clashes, a direct result of the SLA’s anger at the rival group’s participation in the negotiations. Five male tribal leaders and a woman, all believed to be members of the SLA, sought protection from UNAMID. Sudan’s government in Khartoum is insisting that they be turned over to the police, as it believes they were responsible for the violence in the camp. President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur, has personally asked for the men to be handed over.

UNAMID is in a bind. If the peacekeepers hand them over, their avowed mission to protect civilians could be fatally compromised. There is little chance of a fair trial for the six, and the ruthless Sudanese authorities may well torture them. But if the peacekeepers say no to Mr Bashir, he could make life very tough for them. “I tell my brothers the governors of Darfur that anyone who exceeds these boundaries or their mandate can be expelled the same day,” he says. South Darfur’s fiery governor, Abdel Hamed Musa Kasha, has talked of ordering UNAMID to ask permission before its forces can travel around his region. Aid to Kalma camp has already been cut off; thousands of its people have fled.

The head of UNAMID, Ibrahim Gambari, a smooth Nigerian diplomat, has been meeting a succession of Sudanese big shots to try to find a solution. According to a leaked UN document, the peacekeepers are refusing to hand the six over unless they receive a proper arrest warrant and guarantees that they would not be tortured or executed.

Peace is as elusive as ever

As well as putting UNAMID on the spot, the episode has shown up tensions within the Darfur peace process. The two main rebel movements, the SLA and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), are refusing to take part in the Doha talks. The LJM is attending but is militarily less significant than its rivals. Sudan’s government hopes that by including hand-picked Darfuri civil-society groups in the talks, it can claim credit for reaching a deal with the LJM by October. It hopes that other rebel groups will then feel obliged to follow suit.

But the SLA and JEM are both wary of the peace initiative. Neither has an incentive to sign a deal right now. In January, as part of an accord that ended a separate civil war between north and south Sudan in 2005, the southerners will vote on whether their region should secede as a newly independent country. If, as expected, they say yes, the rebels of Darfur will then play a bigger part in a diminished Sudan, which is why they have decided, for the time being, to sit tight.