The AU's Mission in Darfur: Bridging the Gaps

Nairobi/Brussels  |   6 Jul 2005

If the African Union (AU) cannot quickly deploy the force needed to protect civilians in Darfur, NATO troops should help bridge the gaps.

The AU's Mission in Darfur: Bridging the Gaps,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, says bold new action is urgently required to safeguard the inhabitants of Darfur, many of whom are still dying, being raped or facing indefinite displacement from their homes. The EU and NATO are already offering significant financial and logistical support to the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), but thus far, political sensitivities on all sides have kept non-African troops out of Darfur.

"The concept of African solutions for African problems has given Western policy-makers a convenient excuse to do no more than respond to AU requests", says John Prendergast, Special Adviser to the President of Crisis Group. "Darfur should not be treated solely as some capacity-building exercise for the emerging AU".

Yesterday's agreement on a declaration of principles between the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups is welcome, but it is only a very tentative step that leaves all the key issues to future talks. It does little if anything to help those most in need today.

The best way to give the necessary follow-on negotiations a chance to succeed would be to move forward decisively on a credible and capable civilian protection force. More courageous thinking is needed by the AU, NATO, the EU, the UN and the U.S. to get adequate force levels on the ground with an appropriate mandate as quickly as possible.

"The current consensus to support a rough doubling of the AU force to 7,731 troops by the end of September 2005 under the existing mandate is an inadequate response to the crisis", says James Terrie, Crisis Group Senior Analyst for Military and Security Issues.

The mandate must be strengthened to prioritise civilian protection, and a well trained and equipped force of at least 12,000 to 15,000 is urgently needed on the ground as rapidly as it is possible to get it there, which in practical terms means within 60 days.

NATO should help the AU put such a force into Darfur. But if the AU cannot meet these objectives of time and personnel, NATO should help it do so by deploying its own bridging force that brings the total up to that level and maintains it there until the AU can perform the mission entirely with its own personnel. The AU should agree that until then, its units would be under command and control of the NATO mission.

The UN Security Council should authorise the mission with a civilian protection mandate, but if that is not possible, the AU and NATO would need to assume the responsibility. Multilateral pressure must be brought to bear on Khartoum to accept such a mission, but if it does not, NATO and the AU would need to prepare a much larger one to operate in a non-permissive environment.

"It's disturbing that the daily death and suffering are becoming 'status quo' for some members of the international community", says Suliman Baldo, Director of Crisis Group's Africa Program. "The situation has the potential to become another never-ending conflict in which donors spend large sums feeding the displaced but otherwise fail to protect civilians and to address the underlying political causes".