"Now the ball will be in Sudan's court"

Expect a very slow return of serve with lots of spin.

The United Nations [Secretariat, not Security Council--don't expect much from the Council - MC] and the African Union agreed Thursday on a highly mobile, joint force capable of deterring violence to help protect civilians and restore security to conflict-wracked Darfur — but Sudan holds the key to its deployment.

The 39-page report proposing the mandate and structure of an AU-U.N. "hybrid" force with at least 23,000 troops and police will be sent to the Sudanese government for approval. "Now the ball will be in Sudan's court," said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the current Security Council president.

Security Council experts met Thursday afternoon to discuss the report and a draft statement proposed by the United States that calls the AU-U.N. agreement "an important development" in furthering the Darfur peace process. It urges the Sudanese government to cooperate fully in "the expeditious start-up and implementation of the U.N.-AU hybrid operation."

[...]

The organizations [Au-U.N.] proposed two options for the military force — one with 19,500 troops including 18 infantry battalions and the other with 17,605 troops including 15 infantry battalions.

The larger force has "an optimal balance" of capabilities "and would credibly contribute to a secure environment," the report said, while the smaller force would "critically depend" on day and night rapid reaction forces and readily available aircraft and helicopters.

The police component would include 3,772 officers and about 2,500 policemen whose prime responsibility would be to establish and train community police in the camps and work with the national police in Darfur to meet international standards.

But the report said even the first phase — a light support package including U.N. police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support — is still not fully deployed [emphasis added].

[...]

After five months of stalling, the Sudanese president on April 16 gave the go-ahead for the second phase — a "heavy support package" with 3,000 U.N. troops, police and civilian personnel along with six attack helicopters and other equipment.

The AU and U.N. called for urgent contributions of troops and police from U.N. member states...

The AU-U.N. proposal states that every effort will be made to keep the hybrid force predominantly African, as [Sudanese president] al-Bashir demanded [emphasis added]...

Heaven knows where that number of capable African troops will be found. Perhaps Canadians should take note of the fact that people like us are not really wanted.

Mark C.

Update: I wonder if Jack Layton will recommend that the Egyptians withdraw their peacekeepers (Celestial Junk provides the exit strategy):

Gunmen Kill U.N. Peacekeeper Inside His Residence in Darfur

Meanwhile the UN Secretary General writes a letter and this piece of information is buried deep within the story (followed by a gem of understatement):

...on Saturday, Bashir again rejected the notion of a larger force, despite agreeing to it late last year.

The stuttering progress makes diplomats, aid workers and some Security Council members skeptical about the positive words coming from Khartoum...

Posted by markc at May 26, 2007 11:47 AM