Cape Town — South Africa's defence minister said today he was confident that countries outside Africa would provide the helicopters and other military equipment needed by UNAMID, the hybrid African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for the Darfur region of Sudan.
The minister, Mosiuoa Lekota, was reacting to a question at a news conference in Cape Town on why, six weeks after the deployment of the force, it still did not have the helicopters it needed.
He said that since the Rwandan genocide of 1994, many countries – especially from Europe – were uneasy about deploying troops in unstable situations in Africa. As a consequence, African leaders had accepted that it was their responsibility to create conditions conducive to outside support.
In Sudan, the government had not until now been "very forthcoming," Lekota said. But recently it had "come to the party" by signing a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) providing a legal and administrative framework for the peacekeepers.
Very few African countries have the technical capabilities needed by UNAMID, and South Africa is overstretched by its commitments in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But the signing of the SOFA opened the way to greater deployment: "We are quite confident… there will be other countries forthcoming, both on the basis of our performance and on the basis of our persuasion [for them] to come forward," Lekota said.
West Offers No Helicopters for Darfur
