U.N. Hopeful, Democrats Restless On Darfur

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is encouraged by a recent agreement with Sudan's president to beef up the African Union force in Darfur with U.N. troops, police and equipment and hopes to clear up "misunderstandings" about the one remaining issue — deployment of U.N. helicopter gunships.

Ban told reporters Thursday the United Nations has been trying to assure the Sudanese government that the attack helicopters are "not for any offensive purpose" because the 7,000-strong AU force is in Darfur on a peacekeeping mission and that will be the U.N.'s role as well.

"But when you deploy troops you need to have ... mobility with some capacity to deterrence," he said, and the helicopters are "just a standard implement to which they should have no concern."

In Washington, however, some Senate Democrats have increased the volume of their call for a more aggressive military intervention in the Darfur crisis.

Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Democratic presidential candidate, called Wednesday for the use of military force in the region.

"I would use American force now," Biden said at a hearing before his committee. "I think it's not only time not to take force off the table. I think it's time to put force on the table and use it."

In advocating use of military force, Biden said senior U.S. military officials in Europe told him that 2,500 U.S. troops could "radically change the situation on the ground now."

"Let's stop the bleeding," Biden said. "I think it's a moral imperative."

Under U.N.-backed agreements approved last fall, a hybrid force of 22,000 African Union and U.N. peacekeepers are to be deployed in Darfur to protect and provide relief for 2.5 million Darfurians who have been forced from their homes and are now confined to camps.

The undermanned and under-equipped AU force has been unable to stop violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been in nearly four years of fighting between the government and ethnic African rebels.

The violence has only increased since a peace deal last year signed by the government and one rebel group. Other rebel groups rejected the deal and continued fighting.

The Bush administration has always rejected use of military force in Darfur, partly because of a possible outcry, particularly in Muslim countries about hostile U.S. action in yet another Islamic country on the heels of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Andrew Natsios, the special U.S. envoy to Sudan, said the U.S. has agreed to a request by Secretary-General Ban for a two- to four-week delay in imposing unilateral sanctions against Sudan, so negotiations can continue on Sudan's acceptance of the deployment of international peacekeepers.

The United Nations and Sudan agreed in November on a three-stage plan to strengthen the AU force, to culminate with the deployment of a joint AU-U.N. force with 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers. But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has since backed off the deal, saying he would only allow a larger AU force, with technical and logistical support from the United Nations.

The first phase, a light support package including U.N. police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support, has already been sent to Darfur.

At a meeting last month on the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ban and al-Bashir reached an agreement to work out differences on the second stage heavy support package at a meeting Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The U.N., AU and Sudan agreed on all elements of that package — including more than 3,000 U.N. troops, police, and other personnel as well as substantial aviation and logistics equipment — except the attack helicopters at the Addis Ababa meeting.

Asked whether he was confident that all problems with the second phase were resolved and discussions could now move on to the third phase, Ban told reporters Thursday, "One always needs to have a bit of hope, based on optimism."

"I was encouraged by the recent development of progress in our discussions with Sudanese government," he said, and "we are going to continue to clarify" the helicopter issue "where they still have concerns."

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current Security Council president, told reporters after a closed-door briefing on Sudan late Thursday that members were "quite positive" and were "now looking for final confirmation that the six attack helicopter could be accepted."

"If, as we're promised, that is forthcoming in the next couple of days then we have the heavy support package in its entirety," he said.

Once Sudan accepts the package, Jones Parry said he will send a letter to the secretary-general who can then start the process of getting financing to deploy the troops, police and equipment.

Ban, who took the reins of the U.N. on Jan. 1, said he plans "to step up my diplomatic efforts to resolve the Darfur situation."

U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Tuesday the U.N. is hoping for "a positive and expeditious response" from the Sudanese government on the helicopters, hopefully before high-level consultations on Darfur at U.N. headquarters on April 16-17 hosted by Ban.

AU chief executive Alpha Oumar Konare and the two envoys trying to promote a political settlement of the four-year conflict in the western Sudanese region, the U.N.'s Jan Eliasson and the AU's Salim Ahmed Salim, will be attending the meetings.

Jones Parry said the meetings "should be an opportunity to galvanize the whole process."

Ban told reporters Thursday he hopes as a result of next week's meeting "I will also have a future course of action."

Sudan's approval of a hybrid U.N.-AU force remains problematic.

Hours before Ban and al-Bashir met last month, the Sudanese president sharply rejected any U.N. deployment in a speech to the summit, repeating his stance that the U.N. role must be limited to logistical and financial help for AU peacekeepers in Darfur.

Ban stressed Thursday that a hybrid force would be dominated by African troops.

The force commander and the deputy commander with be African generals, and the force structure will primarily "be operated by African commanders," he said.

"Therefore, I hope there should be no such concern," Ban said. "We will continue to alleviate such concerns."