Darfur force 'to be all-African'
BBC NewsAfrica will provide all of the 26,000 peacekeepers to be sent to Sudan's Darfur region, the head of the African Union (AU) has said.
AU chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said enough African troops had been promised for no outside help to be needed but he did not give details.
The UN had expected to call on Asian troops. Critics say Africa lacks enough trained troops for an effective force.
Sudan's government has long opposed the involvement of non-African soldiers.
It only agreed to a joint United Nations-AU force after months of negotiations.
The UN Security Council resolution setting up the force said the troops would be mostly African but they would be under UN command.
Monday, August 13, 2007
It's worked so well so far.
African Union soldiers have done so well stopping the violence in Darfur that AU president Alpha Oumar Konare is making it clear he expects that only African Union soldiers will make up the U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. I don’t know if this is some sort of “go it alone” statement or a hope that donating troops will mean a UN-based financial windfall for African countries but disengagement of the 1st world in Africa is in no one’s interest. The very best individuals available – which should include very significant numbers of troops from the U.S. – should be the ones doing the job.
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