Sudan Not to Take Over AU

The other day it was determined that Sudan would not be taking over the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) due to the current situation in Darfur, according to The Washington Post and BBCNews.com. As many know the current situation in Darfur, a region in Sudan, is a systematic killing of the non-Baggara. The killing is being carried out by the janjaweed: a militia group recurited from the tribes of the Abbala. The Janjaweed are being backed by the Sudanese governement, under the leadership of President Omar al-Bashir. The Sudanese government has denied supporting the janjaweed.

As chairman of the AU, Sudan would be able to cut funding and support from the AU's peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region.

The UN is asking al-Bashir to allow a joint UN/AU peacekeeping force in Darfur. There are already 2,370 AU troops in Darfur; the UN is looking to send a peacekeeping force of 22,000. According to an article from The Washington Post, Sudanese Presidential adviser Majzoub al-Khalifa said there was a consensus on the first two stages of UN support for a 7,500 strong AU mission in Darfur; however, there was no agreement to deploy a hybrid force. A Sept. 25, 2006 report from PBS Online NewsHour reported that the AU troop level would reach 11,000.

The Sudanese government did agree to allow up to 1,000 UN support personnel to boost the struggling AU.

Many nations, including the United States, have called what is taking place in Darfur a genocide. However, these nations still fail to step up and put more pressure on al-Bashir and his government.

Seeing as how Sudan was passed over for the chairmanship because of the situation in Darfur, it should send a message to the rest of the world. Why is it so hard for the international community to step in? Yes, the UN can not go in without the consent of the government or an unanimous security council vote. Still there are other things that can be done; unfortunately they are only being done by NGOs and they are not being successful in ending this genocide. Only military intervention will end it.