By SARAH DORSEY
Observer Staff
Oct. 25, 2007

About 5,000 African Union troops currently patrol the Darfur region. In July, the United Nations Security Council voted to send 26,000 additional African Union and UN peacekeepers.

Former President Jimmy Carter said they’re desperately needed.

“(Right now) they don’t have very many more than 5,000 of these troops. They don’t have adequate personnel carriers. They don’t have any helicopters.”

A JEM fighter escorts General Martin Luther Agwai, force commander, African Union Mission In Sudan on the Sudan-Chad border. (Reuters)

A day before Carter arrived, rebel forces attacked an African Union outpost. About 100 peacekeeping troops guarded the camp, but rebels heavily outnumbered them. Ten peacekeepers died.

“The rest fled into the desert and didn’t come back for two or three days,” said Carter. He said the rebels carried out the raid “almost with impunity.”

And that outpost was one of the most heavily guarded in Darfur. Few camps, if any, currently boast more than 100 African Union troops.

Human rights advocates say the peacekeepers are crucial to holding together a very volatile situation.

As another round of peace talks approach this weekend in Libya, new rebel groups are springing up all over Sudan in the hopes of gaining a seat at the table. A few years ago, there were three rebel groups. Today, nearly 30 are demanding recognition. They fight with each other and rob civilians to build up a reputation for military prowess.

Allyn Brooks-LaSure of Save Darfur said the additional UN troops will help combat the situation. But, he said, there’s typically a lag time before UN troops deploy. And according to Brooks, there’s a good reason for that.

“It’s not like the United States where they have troops sitting in boats waiting and they just call them up,” said Brooks-LaSure. “They actually have to start recruiting them. It’s like saying you’re gonna start a band. You gotta go find the lead singer, and the bass player, and the guitarist.”

Carter cautioned that the peacekeepers will need a real commitment from UN countries – including the United States – if they are to be effective. He said the UN has not yet airlifted the armored personnel carriers, helicopters, weapons, and ammunition the peacekeepers need.

According to Brooks-LaSure, this kind of support would benefit the only clear innocent in this conflict – the Darfuri civilians.

“It’s not easy to distill this conflict down to our view of World War II, to know who to root for,” said Brooks-LaSure.

“The central government has been responsible for the most audacious violence” in the conflict, he said. “But we’re most concerned about the civilians. They are definitely the good guys – the ones languishing in the ['displaced persons’] camps.”