AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - A decision to send 300 African troops to Darfur, first step towards a continental security system?

Friday, 9 July 2004

Addis Ababa (Fides Service) - It is early days yet but could this be a first step towards and African system of security? The decision taken at the end of a conference of heads of states and government of the African Union to send a contingent of 300 soldiers to Darfur (western Sudan), breaks at last with post-colonial Africa’s old taboo of non-interference in domestic affairs of individual countries. Interventions at the level of regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West Africa in Liberia and Ivory Coast, had already shaken this rule. But ten years on from the Rwandan genocide in and today in the face of the tragedy in Darfur, Africa as a whole is asking itself what can be done to stop similar crimes.
The African Union summit in Addis Ababa which ended yesterday 8 July, agreed to send before the end of this month a small military contingent to support African observers already present in Darfur (for background info on Darfur see Fides 8 July 2004). At the operative level, 300 men can do little to stop the massacring. It is hoped therefore that this is only a prelude to more important concrete steps.
For the African leaders in fact this is intended to be a first step towards the formation of a continental peace force. The AU summit approved a project for the creation of an African force for rapid intervention to send to crisis areas anywhere on the continent. The African Union asked the European Union, the United Nations, the G8, and individual countries to supply the necessary support for the training of this military body.
The Summit also discussed the crisis in Ivory Coast and in the Great Lakes region. Thanks to the mediation of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, there will be a meeting of the Ivorian parties on July 29 at Accra (Ghana). With regard to the Great Lakes region, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have decided to create a forum to discuss their contentions. In fact Congo accuses Rwanda of invading part of its territory but Rwanda defends itself saying that Congo hosts guerrillas connected with the old Rwandan regime responsible for the genocide in 1994. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 9/7/2004 righe 29 parole 361)


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