10/18/2004

Sudan: Mandate and Size of AU Ceasefire Commission Must Be Expanded

The African Union (AU), with the encouragement of the member states of the United Nations Security Council, has placed monitors and a small force to protect them in Darfur, Sudan to monitor the April 8 agreement between the Government of Sudan and the two Darfur-based rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). At present AU monitors are responding daily to allegations of breaches of the ceasefire, many of which comprise attacks on innocent civilians. During the week of October 2, a Ceasefire Commission (CFC) team was patrolling in South Darfur when it saw Government of Sudan helicopters flying in formation. The team members turned off the road and followed the direction from which the planes were coming. Within minutes they came across a village which had just experienced an attack. The monitors witnessed 50 armed militia, known popularly as the Janjaweed, retreating on camels and horses. In their wake the village was burning and civilians had been shot.

Observers agreed to talk to Refugees International on the grounds of complete anonymity. “You could see the strafing on the ground where bombs had been thrown from the helicopters. One farmer had been shot in the back while he was tending his crop. If these civilians had been carrying guns-- that might have justified an attack. But they weren’t. At this point we’re tired of responding to calls to just count dead bodies. It makes you very angry.”

“These attacks were clearly orchestrated between government forces and the armed militias. It wouldn’t be possible to synchronize movements without close coordination. We have the ability to check the air traffic times for planes departing and landing from the local airport, and can provide double confirmation that these flights took place.”

In the light of such incidents, members of the CFC admitted to RI that the April 8 agreement has been breached so often that in reality there is no ceasefire in a war that has claimed over 50,000 lives and left 1.5 million internally displaced persons without permanent homes, completely dependent upon international humanitarian assistance.

With or without a real ceasefire, expanding the mandate and size of the AU mission appears to be the only politically feasible means of providing protection to civilians in war-torn Darfur. While monitors are currently able to investigate attacks after the fact, and at times come across an attack which is underway, they have no power to intervene and no mandate to stop the fighting or even to keep a fragile peace between the warring parties and innocent civilians.

In his second report to the UN Security Council on October 4, 2004, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sudan, Jan Pronk, recommended the speedy deployment of a “sizeable” AU force with an expanded mandate to include ensuring protection of the rights of internally displaced persons in their areas of origin; ensuring the safety of displaced persons in the camps and the safe and voluntary return of displaced persons and refugees to their areas of origin; monitoring the behavior and actions of the Sudanese government police; and disarming fighters, including the Popular Defense Forces and the Janjaweed militia. SRSG Pronk concluded his paragraph on the AU mandate by stating, “If one or more of these tasks remain unfulfilled, an unstable situation, unsustainable peace, or even no peace at all will result.”

The lack of women on the AU CFC teams has made investigating gender-based violence difficult. “Without a woman on the team, the women of Darfur are often reluctant to talk to us so we have to read between the lines,” a source in the AU confirmed. While rapes are not considered a violation of the ceasefire, nonetheless AU CFC teams have been collaborating with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights monitors to document human rights cases.

Logistics are handicapping the AU. AU missions need more vehicles, more accommodations, and more communication equipment for the staff they currently have. This problem will only intensify if more troops are deployed. There are also reports that the Government of Sudan has been delaying AU equipment in customs in Khartoum.

Yet, despite logistical difficulties, the Ceasefire Commission itself is holding together. Under the April 8 Agreement, representatives from all three fighting forces and foreign ceasefire monitors are part of a panel which decides ultimately whether a breach of the agreement has occurred. Although final determinations can take several weeks, and are often disputed by the party that received the allegation against it, reports are made, and the monitors are able to carry out their work without active obstruction.

Many non-governmental organizations feel that the presence of AU monitors, and their accompanying protection force, is also useful in deterring attacks against civilians in some areas, and helps maintain humanitarian access.  However, both the AU and the international humanitarian agencies admit that this presence alone is not sufficient to stop the ongoing attacks against civilians, or to stem the waves of civilians forcibly displaced from villages and homes that arrive daily in IDP camps throughout Darfur.

Therefore Refugees International recommends that:

• The Government of Sudan, SLA and JEM forces maintain the April 8 Ceasefire Agreement. All parties to the agreement must live up to the provisions of common Art. 3 of the Geneva Conventions and refrain from attacking innocent civilians.
• At the meeting of its Peace and Security Council on October 20, the AU agree to broaden the mandate of its force in Darfur to include the protection of civilians and the disarmament of both pro-government militia and rebel forces, as recommended by SRSG Pronk, and that the number of personnel be increased to enable the force to carry out this expanded mandate.
• The Government of Sudan make a credible effort to disarm the armed militias, known as the Janjaweed.
• The United States and the European Union increase their logistics support to the AU monitors. In addition, they should put pressure on the government of Sudan to ensure that equipment is expedited through customs.
• The African Union, with support from the United States and the European Union, send female military observers to increase their capacity to document violence against women.

Advocates Sarah Martin and Mamie Mutchler just returned from a three-week assessment mission to Darfur, Sudan.