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Africa Union Wants Gear for Use in Darfur

By ANTHONY MITCHELL

Associated Press Writer

May 23, 2005, 8:35 AM EDT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- The Africa Union will press donors for six
helicopter gunships, 116 armored personnel carriers and other equipment for
its peacekeepers struggling to end the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's
western Darfur region.

The logistical and material support will help the AU raise the number of its
peacekeepers and step up operations to stabilize Darfur, the scene of one of
the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"The international community has asked us to increase our strength which we
are doing and so I think they will support us both logistically and
financially," AU spokesman Assane Ba said.

An estimated 180,000 people have died -- many from hunger and disease -- and
about 2 million others have fled their homes in Darfur to escape the
conflict between rebels on one side and government forces pro-government
militia on the other.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, NATO Secretary General Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer and European Union's Security Affairs Chief Javier Solana are
expected in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa this week for a conference
intended to raise funds for the AU's Darfur operation.

NATO allies had agreed late last month to consider offering logistical help
to the Africa Union in Darfur following a written request from the AU
Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare.

While the initiative does not involve sending troops, officials have
described it as the most significant NATO focus on an African security
problem.

The AU is also seeking dozens of ambulances, operational helicopters,
passenger and cargo aircraft as well as trucks for African troops operating
in Darfur, a region the size of France.

The AU is trying to beef up its 2,270-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur to
more than 7,700 troops by September, and 12,000 by next year. It has been
bogged down by logistical problems and a lack of air support in the vast
region.

Konare said last month that peacekeepers were now being targeted as part of
a "new phenomenon" in the troubled region.

More sophisticated equipment, including forward-looking infrared technology,
will help end that problem and enable peacekeepers conduct 24-hour
operations.

"Our forces go on missions and when night falls it disrupts our mission.
Armed groups will take advantage of that. So this equipment is vital," Ba
said.

The crisis in Darfur erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw
as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African
origin. The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency
campaign in which the ethnic Arab militia known as Janjaweed committed
wide-scale abuses against ethnic Africans.

Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.

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