Needed: A New Peacekeeping Direction

November 3, 2008

On Monday Washington prepared to airlift between 3,000 and 4,000 new peacekeepers, primarily of Egyptian and Ethiopian nationality, to deploy along with the joint UN-AU mission to Darfur (UNAMID). If the higher number were to be achieved, this would lift the peacekeeping force to 60 percent of the full 26,000-strong peacekeeping capacity that the international community has called for. Many have called this move "important progress" towards peace in the Sudan, including U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, but the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy is more reserved in its approval.

The Damanga Coalition is concerned about the makeup of the peacekeeping force. The Government of Sudan tends to welcome in peacekeepers of African and Arab origin from organizations like the African Union and the Arab League. But these two organizations are globally known to be unreliable, weak, and lacking institutionalization. The Sudanese Government will of course welcome peacekeepers that are ineffective. They will welcome peacekeepers that are unable to facilitate change. This allows the government to continue down the path it has taken largely unabated, killing and raping in search of resources, wealth, and power. It has also become clear that many of the forces deployed from countries, especially former colonial power Egypt, support the Government of the Sudan. They will also be largely ineffectual, because they support the atrocities perpetrated by the government-armed Janjaweed militias. It is no wonder that the Sudanese government should support these particular peacekeepers, because they will not likely change what has become the status quo.

The Damanga Coalition hopes that the UN will push for the deployment of Western peacekeepers in Darfur. Peacekeepers from the developed world will be much more effective at stopping the killing and instituting movement toward a safe and fair democracy. These peacekeepers know how to make states work; they know how to mimic that which has worked in their countries and they know how to innovate it to work in the torn North African nation. This is why the Government of Sudan does not support their deployment. Their deployment will work. Their deployment will save lives. And their deployment will help to fairly distribute wealth in a nation rife with inequality. The UN, supported by the U.S., should strongly advocate for European and American peacekeepers who have made a history of helping countries to function properly. Omar Al-Bashir may protest, but peace and freedom do not wait for naysayers. Effective peacekeepers which work to educate African Union forces on how to unite a country and help it grow will be the force that brings about true and lasting change in the Sudan, and ultimately aid Africans in learning to run their own successful peacekeeping campaigns. And then Africans will be able to stand on their own feet and become the bastion for peace that they were meant to be.