US Fails to Support Peacekeepers in Darfur

United States Fails to Support Peacekeepers in Darfur

Pledges Paltry Sum with Funds Set to Run Out in Just Two Months

With United Nations Stalling, Civilians Will Suffer an Increase in Genocidal Violence

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2006 — The Genocide Intervention Network today expresses extreme disappointment in the United States’ decision to decline even the most minimal support for peacekeepers in Darfur, Sudan. US leaders have refused to fund the African Union peacekeeping force currently protecting Darfurian civilians beyond September, effectively condemning hundreds of thousands to death in a genocide that continues unabated.

At a recent donors’ conference in Brussels with the United Nations and Sudan, US officials pledged $116 million for the African Union force in Darfur. Yet this money has already been appropriated, on June 15. AU troops are stretched too thin because of a lack of funding and personnel, and will not be able to sustain a peacekeeping mission without additional support.

The AU force plans to continue patrolling Darfur until its mandate expires on September 30, when it will no longer have the funds to continue peacekeeping. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Darfurian civilians depend on these peacekeeping troops to protect them from rape, murder and other heinous attacks.

“The lack of action taken by the United States to sustain peacekeeping troops in Darfur is appalling,” says GI-Net Executive Director Mark Hanis. “The only way violence in Darfur will cease is through a robust peacekeeping force, and it is the responsibility of the United States and the international community to support this force.”

Aid agencies and the European Union fear that the region is on the brink of complete collapse, with the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May rendered nearly irrelevant. Numerous organizations on the ground in Darfur have reported violence actually increasing since the signing of the agreement.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer says that the United States hopes a UN force will enter the country by the end of September. “To protect innocent lives in Darfur, we need an international peacekeeping operation with the capability to address the complexity of the challenges,” Frazer has said.

Yet the United Nations still must pass a resolution in support of the peacekeeping mission, and Sudan continues to refuse to admit UN troops to Darfur — making a UN force in Darfur by the end of September sheer fantasy, GI-Net argues.

“Once again, the Western world is turning its back on AU troops, reneging on its promise of ‘never again’ without presenting any other viable option for civilian protection,” Hanis says. “The United States’ meager and shameful attempt to appease the international community is absolutely unacceptable.

“The people of Darfur need and deserve basic civilian protection,” Hanis adds. “The United States has an obligation to help stop the genocide by supporting peacekeepers in Darfur. Until an effective peacekeeping operation is implemented by the United Nations or a NATO bridging force, the killing and displacement of thousands of Darfurians will continue.”

About the Genocide Intervention Network

The Genocide Intervention Network works to mobilize an anti-genocide constituency in the United States and Canada to raise the costs for inaction by politicians in the face of genocide. GI-Net empowers its members with the tools to support initiatives that prevent and stop genocidal violence, in particular by protecting civilians in Darfur, Sudan.

Website: http://www.GenocideIntervention.net/

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