AU Paralysis

Julie Flint on the uselessness of the African Union, as the Darfur conflict enters a new phase:

An attack on the North Darfur village of Bir Maza last weekend bore all the hallmarks of the war the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias have waged for the past three years against the Darfur rebel movements and the civilians accused of supporting them: a ground offensive by regular and militia forces, aerial support from helicopter gunships, murder, and rape. But the government’s partner in crime in Bir Maza was not the Janjaweed. It was Khartoum’s new partner in peace – the faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Minni Minawi.

With the conclusion of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) on May 5, the conflict in Darfur has entered a phase even more cynical than that which preceded it: The two signatories of the DPA, whom few Darfurians trust, are attempting to force their “peace” on reluctant civilians and in so doing to eliminate all opposition, armed and otherwise, to their dominion.

Senior United Nations officials in Sudan are privately expressing “great concern” about the government-Minawi alliance, which threatens to be the end of the infant DPA and the beginning of a new war in Darfur. But the African Union (AU), which sponsored the peace process and whose troops are (in theory) keeping the peace in Darfur, has said nothing – even though there is evidence that Khartoum disguised one of its own helicopters as an AU chopper and used it to ferry supplies into Bir Maza and to airlift its wounded out.

The AU’s silence is eloquent testimony to the paralysis that has afflicted it, under the wholly inadequate leadership of Baba Kingibe, ever since the DPA was signed in Abuja. This silence will return to haunt it. In Darfur today, an increasing number of people believe the AU is taking sides – and, in their opinion, the wrong side. […]

After so many mistakes, and so much inaction for so long, there is no easy solution. More force – whether in the shape of a NATO force or another foreign army – will only add fuel to the fire in Darfur. A UN force to replace the present AU mission is rejected, with increasing conviction, by the Sudanese government. Without a change of heart in Khartoum, UN peacekeepers would have to fight their way into Darfur. The lesson of Abuja is inescapable now: There is no quick fix, and no lasting peace that is not both consensual and comprehensive.