09/25/2005

A more recent development has been the increased numbers of Civilian Police, who are authorized to monitor and mentor the Sudanese police. By October 21, 1,586 Civilian Police are expected to be on the ground. They will be in 70 places around Darfur, initially with stations in 45 camps and 25 villages, co-located with the Sudanese police.

To date, only 18 of the 70 stations have been built by the Norwegian-contracted Uniteam. While humanitarian agencies on the ground thought that the Civilian Police would be providing 24h/24h presence in the camps, they are apparently only doing 12hr shifts in some places. Humanitarian agencies also expressed concern about the fact that the CivPol teams rotate out of the locations every 10 days or so; they hoped that there would be better continuity so that the IDPs could develop a relationship of trust with particular police personnel. It is not clear if IDPs understand yet as well that the Civilian Police also are only there to ensure that the Government of Sudan follows up on investigations - they cannot actively investigate and make arrests on their own.