EIGHT years into the crisis, the peace-mission operation in the Darfur region has cost the African Union-United Nations (AU-UN) Mission (UNAMID) $1.9 billion yearly, the UN special envoy to the region, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has disclosed.
The Darfur guerilla conflict began in 2003, a western region of Sudan, home to racially mixed tribes of settled peasants demanding greater autonomy and better governance.
Gambari, who spoke against the backdrop of the relevance of UNAMID's mandate, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday that the mission was the most expensive in the world, with almost 92 per cent deployment of its military component – when the mission would have 26,000 troops, 3,000 police and others as civilians, when fully deployed.
"We will have a total of 31,000; that is already the biggest internationally peace-keeping mission in the world, and at about $1.9 billion spent yearly, is the most expensive.
"So I think because of that deployment and expenses, it is important to make the mandate work," Gambari said.
The mandate of UNAMID includes the protection of civilians, and particularly the 1.7 million internally displaced persons, the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the promotion of peace agreement.
The envoy, who expressed the determination of UNAMID to succeed in spite of inadequate logistics, said the mandate of the mission remained relevant.
"We do not need additional mandate, like in Iraq and Afghanistan, what we need is to strengthen the existing mandate," he added. Gambari, however, observed that the lack of equipment was hampering its operation.
"We only have five attack helicopters, and we have no utility helicopter, we need about 32, because the size of Darfur is the same as the whole of France; so our ability to respond to threat is hampered by the fact that we don't have enabler, because this is what will enable us to be more proactive, so it is not the number of troops but the enablers we can be given," he said.
He gave the assurance that UNAMID would remain in Darfur beyond July 9 date of independence for Southern Sudan to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement involving all parties.
With 3,400 troops in Sudan, Nigeria is the largest single contributor to UN peace keeping in Africa.
Source: The Guardian.