March 24, 2006
by Fredrick Nzwili
Ecumenical News International

NAIROBI – Sudan's deeply troubled Darfur region desperately needs a truly international peacekeeping force, and cannot wait another six months to get it, the Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, has told the African Union (AU).

Dandala charged that the AU peacekeepers there too often defer to the wishes of Khartoum.

"Like the rest of the world, we are appalled by the horrendous, disturbing and continuing loss of human life and livelihoods in Darfur," Dandala said in a March 23 letter to AU Chairman Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of Congo Brazzaville, and Omar Konari, chairman of the African Commission.

Dandala, a South African Methodist who heads the Nairobi-based ecumenical body, said the churches salute the AU for organizing peace talks on Darfur held in Abuja, Nigeria, and for deploying troops in Darfur, but despite those efforts, the situation in Darfur has continued to deteriorate.

"You are correct that the small number of troops, as opposed to the vastness of Sudan, coupled with the limitations in terms of funding, have not, indeed, made your tasks on the ground to be easy and successful as desired," Dandala said in his letter.

The AU, made up of the 53 nations of Africa, has extended the mission of its 7,000 troops to Sept. 30. However, Dandala said churches are convinced that the people of Darfur cannot wait another six months for a possible UN multinational peacekeeping force.

"We consider the AU move as a dangerous deference to the government of Sudan, which has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligations to protect the people of Darfur," Dandala said.

The churches want a truly international force of well-equipped and -trained soldiers with a strong mandate for peacekeeping and monitoring.

Presbyterian News Service