France, Denmark, Indonesia offer help By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer

France, Denmark, Indonesia offer help By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago



PARIS - France, Denmark and Indonesia offered Wednesday to contribute to a joint United Nations-African Union mission for Darfur, a 26,000-strong force expected to be made up mostly of peacekeepers from Africa with backup from Asian troops.

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The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the force Tuesday to help end four years of rape and slaughter of civilians in the vast Sudanese desert region. If fully deployed, it would be the world's largest peacekeeping operation.

Coming up with such large numbers of new troops could be difficult, as many militaries are already overstretched in existing peacekeeping efforts and conflicts such as Iraq, observers say. Britain's military, for example, has 7,100 members in Afghanistan and 5,500 in Iraq.

"We would consider requests to support the United Nations-Africans Mission in Darfur once we receive a formal request to do so," Britain's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, adding that it is already assisting the existing AU mission in Darfur in areas including logistics and planning.

But a spokeswoman at the British foreign office — who spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with the ministry's regulations — said Britain would not send ground forces.

"We're not going to be putting soldiers with guns and tanks in Darfur," she said.

The conflict in Darfur began in February 2003 when ethnic African tribes rebelled against what they considered decades of neglect and discrimination by Sudan's Arab-dominated government. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed — a charge it denies. More than 200,000 people have died, and 2.5 million have been uprooted.

The new peacekeeping force will take over from the beleaguered 7,000-strong AU force now in Darfur no later than Dec. 31. The U.N. said the force, called UNAMID, will have "a predominantly African character," as Sudan demanded. African troops already in Darfur will stay there.

France offered to send soldiers and participate in the chain of command, as well as take part in reconstruction and humanitarian efforts, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said. He did not say how many troops France might contribute.

Kouchner said UNAMID showed "a very new, very important phenonemon, which is that Africans want to take care of African affairs." Speaking on RTL radio, he added that U.N. troops in the force "would come mostly from Asia."

Denmark's Defense Minister Soeren Gade said his country would definitely help.

"Beside the fact that there is a need for quite a lot of soldiers, there is a need for logistical staff, people in the headquarters, ships that can ferry equipment on long distances, planes that can move equipment and personnel," he said in an interview from Iraq with the TV2 News channel.

Desra Percaya, spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry, said the country was willing to contribute troops but was waiting for details on how many non-African troops are needed.

Several countries — including Italy, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Thailand and South Africa — said they had not made a decision yet.

China made no immediate response, though its special envoy on Darfur said in June that his country would seriously consider sending peacekeepers.

The 15-member Security Council's approval of the peacekeeping force ended weeks of negotiations between its main sponsors — Britain and France — and the Sudanese government and its key backers including China, which imports two-thirds of Sudan's oil.

The text was watered down several times to remove the threat of sanctions, which Sudan and China opposed, and authorization for the new force to seize or collect arms.

The force will include up to 19,555 military personnel, including 360 military observers and liaison officers, a civilian component including up to 3,772 international police, and 19 special police units with up to 2,660 officers.

The ultimate troop strength depends on the willingness of U.N. member states to contribute troops, police, logistics and sophisticated military hardware.

Dominique David, executive director of the French Institute of International Relations, said he expected that not very many powerful, rich militaries would contribute troops, and that most troops would come from the developing world.

"In truth, there are few powers ... ready to run the risk of getting into a situation like this — which is extremely complex and extremely demanding — without having any idea of the political solution that would make it possible to set an exit date," he said.

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Associated Press writer Thomas Wagner in London and AP reporters around the world contributed to this report.