A UN-AU hybrid patrol sets off for Siliea in West Darfur. The helmets have been painted blue but no-one has got around to removing the old Amis logo
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It's Not About Boots on the Ground
2 Comments
| July 28, 2008 12:05 PM
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This debate is dominated by people who called for a UN force to be deployed. I don't expect them now to admit that they were completely wrong. Yes, an effective UN-AU hybrid that protected the camps would be a good thing. But that isn't what the intervention camp was calling for. If that's what they are settling for now, then fine - just a little dishonest. (I quoted Eric Reeves, I think, making this sort of reversal a couple of weeks ago.)
Oh, and does your boss know what you're doing?
What do you think?
Rob Crilly in Jerusalem
Rob Crilly is a freelance journalist based in Jerusalem writing for The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Mail. He spent...
Hi Rob, I think you’re right, and wrong.
You’re right, UNAMID is never going to be a solution for Darfur – but the report doesn’t claim it is. Even if UNAMID had its 26,000 troops it’s still not going to be able to stop government and rebels when they’re determined to carry on fighting. And, as we’ve discussed and agreed before (several times!) the massive time and effort spent getting the force approved detracted from much more urgent needs at the time. But... now it’s agreed and in place, surely it’s best to try and make it as effective as it possibly can be?
Just because it can’t ‘solve Darfur’ doesn’t mean it can’t be useful. We just have to be realistic in what it can achieve. Aid agencies can’t solve Darfur either, but without the aid they provide the situation would probably be a lot worse. While UNAMID can’t suddenly bring peace, what it can potentially do is carry out patrols in camps, at night, along main roads etc and stop (or at least reduce) the kind of daily “small scale” violence that makes people’s lives an absolute misery. Especially in camps, most people’s complaints are not about massive fighting but about a few nomads with AK47s riding into the camp at night and raping a couple of women and stealing cattle. That’s the kind of thing a working UNAMID could help stop.
The report doesn’t say more peacekeepers will bring peace – the first line of the conclusion says, “While a protection force will not solve the situation in Darfur…”. You’re right – the answer is to kickstart peace talks and get all sides to agree a ceasefire – but in the meantime, UNAMID could at least be giving people a bit of protection.