UN peacekeepers in Darfur, despite being severely under-equipped and under-manned, can and must do far more to protect civilians in the war-torn Sudanese region, aid groups said in a report yesterday.
The joint UN-African Union force known as UNAMID is “in danger of becoming the world’s latest broken promise,” said the report by the Darfur Consortium, a coalition of more than 40 aid groups operating in Africa.
This is because the Sudanese government is failing to let it deploy fully, because the UN and the African Union have not given it their full political backing, and because donor countries have not fulfilled their pledges to support the mission, it said.
But despite this, the force, which has shown “some small examples of the positive impact it could have in improving lives in Darfur,” could be doing a lot more while it waits for its full deployment, said the Darfur Consortium.
The Darfur conflict broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum and state-backed militias.
The UN has said that 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.
The UNAMID mission took over from a small African Union force on Dec. 31, but only 7,600 troops and 1,500 police have been deployed, barely a third of the projected total of 19,500 soldiers and 6,500 policemen.
The Darfur Consortium report said that “while UNAMID does not have the capacity to respond to large-scale fighting, it must begin to respond forcibly to the daily, smaller attacks on civilians.”
It should begin accompanying men and women to protect them from attack when they go looking for firewood or to markets.
It must also “increase UNAMID presence across Darfur, expand patrols inside and outside of camps [for displaced people],” the report urged.
The consortium urged donor countries to back their pledges and deploy the troops they promised and asked the UN and the AU to give the force their full political backing, and requested Khartoum to allow deployment.
It said that “donor countries must provide the necessary basic equipment, including 18 transport helicopters, at least four more tactical helicopters and six transport vehicles.”
Seven peacekeepers died and 22 were wounded in an ambush by heavily armed militia on July 8, the deadliest in a series of attacks on UNAMID personnel.
UN officials said on Friday that Sudan government planes had bombed Darfur this week despite a highly publicized peace pledge from Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir during a visit to the region.
Also See: [SOCIETY] : Three men, three motorbikes, one dream
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
FIRST STAGE: Hamas has agreed to release 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 ‘national security prisoners’ as well as 1,700 Gazans, but has resisted calls to disarm Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas’ network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said yesterday. Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that the operation would be conducted under an “international mechanism” led by the US. “Israel’s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,” Katz said. “I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission,” he added. Hamas operates a network of tunnels under Gaza, allowing its fighters to operate out of sight of Israeli reconnaissance. Some have passed under
RSS