Sudan’s ravaged Darfur region will finally be getting some relief, in the form of about 4,000 African Union peacekeeping troops. While this is a positive development, it comes very late: The death toll resulting from the Darfur crisis was estimated Friday at 70,000. Still, the AU force will help save the lives that can still be salvaged and could restore stability to the region.
The AU will deploy a Rwandan army battalion this weekend, bringing the total AU force to about 4,500 by the end of next month. U.S. troops will be advising the force, and the Bush administration has awarded $20 million in contracts to two companies, PAE Group and Dyncorp, to provide logistical support.
The crisis in Darfur, which is unfolding more than a decade after the international community passively watched the genocide in Rwanda, is widely seen as a test of the United Nations and the AU. While African leaders have long been pushing for a robust peacekeeping force to be sent to Darfur, the Sudanese government in Khartoum resisted the move, before finally relenting earlier this month.
Also, despite the global spotlight on Darfur, where, according to the United Nations, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is raging, U.N. agencies have only received around half of the $300 million in aid they have sought. Due to the resulting lack of funds, aid workers have been forced to deliver food and medicine in vehicles which have been breaking down in Darfur’s punishing terrain instead of using helicopters. The agencies say they need a standing fleet of 10 or more planes, but have only been able to charter three or four. Given the fact that the United States and others in the international community have acknowledged that genocide has been taking place in Darfur, the delay is disgraceful.
The crisis in Darfur began last February, when farming communities that had been marginalized by Khartoum rebelled against the government. The regime used its own forces and militia groups known as the Janjaweed to put down the revolt. The conflict then escalated into genocide, after the Janjaweed ( who come from nomadic communities that have some ethnic and cultural ties to Arabs in the Middle East) unleashed a murderous campaign against native African farming communities. Still, ethnic distinctions are often unclear in Darfur, due to a longstanding tradition of intermarriage.
The monthly fatality rate in Darfur has been about 10,000, David Nabarro, who heads the World Health Organization’s health-crisis action group, said Friday. More than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes.
An enduring solution to the crisis in Darfur can only be reached through a negotiated settlement between government and the rebels. Talks between the two sides are expected to resume Thursday. But past negotiations have made little headway, and Secretary of State Colin Powell will need to remain vigorously involved if the parties are to achieve a settlement.
The Darfur experience certainly won’t be remembered as a shining example of the international community’s rapid response to genocide. The African Union, though, has been energetic in offering its troops and keeping the pressure on Khartoum. If AU forces perform capably in Darfur, it will give the union new credibility as a force which could police war-torn parts of the continent. For now, the deployment of the AU force is certainly a welcome development — and the best news Darfurians have had since February.
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