Darfur Joint Peacekeeping Mission to be reinforced

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A joint peacekeeping mission for the Darfur region of Sudan will expand to its full strength of 26,000 soldiers and police by June, a top African Union official said Monday.The increase will nearly double its present strength, said Ramtane Lamamra, the AU's peace and security council commissioner. A report by a U.N. panel last year said the peacekeepers were unable to monitor an arms embargo, defend themselves or protect civilians. A shortage of manpower and equipment was partly to blame.Lamamra's announcement was the first to set a month for the force's expansion to full strength.However, U.N. officials said that having adequate troop numbers would only be the first step. Peacekeepers desperately need logistical help, like helicopters and improvements in roads and airports. Even more critical was getting a peace deal in place, said U.N. spokesman Noureddine al-Mezni."Of course we can have 26,000 troops on the ground, but we need peace and it needs to come from a political peace process," he said. "There is no peace for us to keep."Rebels took up arms in Sudan's impoverished Darfur region in early 2003, accusing the central government of neglecting the arid western region. Attempts to broker a lasting cease-fire has failed, and so far up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes.A joint force from the United Nations and African Union took over peacekeeping a year ago from an AU force hampered by a lack of logistics. But the new force has faced many of the same problems as the last one.African Union officials are meeting with U.N. and Sudanese officials at the AU's headquarters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to see what financial, logistical and other support nations might be able to offer to the force.Monday's meeting was overshadowed by a pending International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Sudan has frequently clamped down on peacekeeping operations and the activities of humanitarian organizations when the government has felt threatened by the court.Earlier this month, the government warned that foreigners in Sudan could face attacks by unnamed 'outlaws' if the warrant was issued.The AU has protested the proposed indictment, and Lamamra delicately reiterated the organization's concerns Monday."We are convinced," Lamamra said, "that the tandem political process and the military operations may function inharmoniously."