Darfur may not get peacekeepers

Sudan’s government has imposed limits for a Darfur peacekeeping force that would make it “impossible to operate,” calling its deployment into question, the U.N.’s peacekeeping chief said Tuesday.

Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council that it may face a hard choice about the 26,000-strong force scheduled to deploy in a month: to send troops that cannot defend themselves and the people of Darfur, or to not send troops at all.

Sudan’s government grudgingly accepted the joint U.N.- African Union force but has stalled it for more than a year and is still imposing obstacles, Guehenno said. Khartoum has said it will only accept troops from African countries, has failed to provide land for bases, and says it won’t let helicopters or troops move without government permission.

The government has also impounded the force’s communications equipment for weeks and insists that it has the right to jam U.N. communications temporarily for security reasons.

Those conditions have made countries reluctant to contribute soldiers and equipment to the operation, which would be one of the U.N.’s biggest and most difficult even without the impediments, Guehenno said. No country has offered the six attack helicopters and 18 transport helicopters considered crucial for the mission, and one country, which he did not identify, withdrew its pledges after a reconnaissance visit to Sudan.

Khartoum also rejected key contingents from Thailand and Nepal and a Nordic engineering company, all of which provided capabilities no African country could and were ready to arrive in January, he said.

“It is a no-win situation,” Guehenno told reporters after the Security Council briefing. Sending vulnerable and ineffective troops risked humiliation for the U.N. and “a tragic failure for the people of Darfur,” he said.

The joint force in Darfur may be challenged by rebels, government-allied militias or even the Sudanese army, analysts say.

A September attack by 1,000 rebels on an African Union base in Haskanita in Darfur killed 10 soldiers, and the rest scattered into the bush when they ran out of ammunition. The incident highlighted the vulnerability of the force the joint peacekeeping operation is meant to replace.

Bangladeshi police and Chinese engineers have already arrived to prepare for the deployment, but two rebel movements threatened this week to attack the Chinese, Guehenno said.

He left it to the Security Council to decide how to pressure Khartoum to smooth the way for the international force. France’s U.N. ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said the council would consider sanctions.

Guehenno also pointed out that the peacekeepers did not yet have a peace to keep, as negotiations between rebels and the government have stalled. Government and rebel forces have violated a cease-fire, and some key leaders from southern Sudan, government-allied factions and the main rebel group have boycotted the talks.

The two movements that originally rose up against the government in 2003, saying that Darfur had been neglected, have fractured into almost two dozen splinter groups, and the talks that began in October have been suspended to allow the groups to find a united platform.

An estimated 200,000 people have been killed in the Darfur region, and 2 million others have been forced from their homes. Arab militias are accused of committing some of the violence with support from the government.

maggie.farley@latimes.com