Washington, DC — The U.S. government supports the formation of a UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan, U.S. officials said at a press briefing Friday, the same day the African Union and UN Security Council agreed in principle to transition from the current AU peacekeeping force to a UN operation.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations Kristen Silverberg praised the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) for its work to protect civilians and monitor human rights abuses.
Silverberg said there would be "no reduction of AU forces in Darfur [and it is] highly likely that AMIS forces will be used."
Instead, AU forces would join with the UN mission, taking advantage of "all the resources of the full international community," she said. "Also the UN has an expertise in logistics."
Silverberg said the "re-hatting" of peacekeeping forces "is not a new idea. Indeed, it has been envisioned since the beginning of the AMIS operation in August 2004."
The UN Security Council asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan to draw up plans for a transition from the current AU peacekeeping mission to a UN operation. The request was one of the council's first actions since the U.S. assumed the rotating presidency this week. Frazer said the U.S. has decided to use the presidency to address the Darfur crisis.
"We will of course maintain strong support for the AU mission while the transition is underway," Silverberg said. "Africans will remain in leadership in any mission."
Frazer said the region has become more volatile with increasing violence from all sides and "new factions coming out and threatening IDP camps." After a spate of recent attacks that have displaced more than 70,000 in Darfur alone, Frazer said "Genocide has occurred in Sudan and we continue to be concerned about the security environment in Darfur."
Frazer avoided saying whether genocide is still taking place. "Since the end of December there has been a lot more conflict taking place on the border between Chad and Sudan," she said. "The relationship between the countries has complicated the security situation in Darfur as the Chadian government has made charges that the Sudanese are supporting rebels in their territory and there have been counter-charges from the Sudanese."
Sudan's relationship with its neighbors is a "complicating factor" Frazer said, and is hampering peace talks currently underway in Abuja, Nigeria between the Sudanese government and opposition groups, the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). "We need to arrest the deteriorating security environment," she said, "to try to find a solution to the crisis in Darfur towards a power-sharing, wealth-sharing agreement that also has some arrangements for security."
The proposed UN operation would likely cover all of Sudan and would represent a significant challenge in a country with as many as 3 million displaced people and continuing violence. One obstacle appears to be the Sudanese government's reluctance to sign on to a UN mission. Frazer said the U.S. is in talks with the Sudanese government to bring them onboard.
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Frazer said there has been "more frequency of incidents and that's why we need to put a focus on how can we strengthen AMIS immediately and move towards a longer-term sustainable solution."
The Security Council action is "words on a paper, but they are words on a paper that will allow us to strengthen our actions to end this crisis in Darfur," Frazer said. "Everybody knows that the crisis in Darfur has to come to an end."
