By Alfred de Montesquiou
Associated Press
Monday, October 16, 2006

KASSAB, Sudan, Oct. 15 -- Refugees living in camps scattered across this region of western Sudan say an African Union peacekeeping mission has done little to protect them, even as rising violence is driving away crucial humanitarian aid.

"You have been here for three years now, and what have you done for us?" a tribal leader bitterly asked a delegation of African Union soldiers and police that visited the Kassab refugee camp last week.

As they often must, the peacekeepers explained to camp delegates that they were in Darfur only to monitor the violence and had no mandate to fight it.

"You are witnessing what happens, but you aren't helping," said Attaieb Adem, one of the camp delegates.

The Sudanese army, backed by an Arab militia called the Janjaweed, and Darfur rebel groups began fighting in 2003. Since then, as many as 450,000 people have died in violence and from disease, and 2.5 million have been displaced.

The African Union mission came in 2004, but anger over its perceived ineffectiveness is strong.

"If there is nothing you can do, then you might as well go home, so that the United Nations" can come, said Adem, referring to the hope by many in Darfur that a U.N. Security Council resolution to send about 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers to the region will be implemented. The mandate of the African Union force expires at the end of the year.

Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, fiercely opposes the U.N. proposal, saying it would breach the country's sovereignty.

The refugees in Kassab say they do not see how their security could get any worse in their camp, on the front line of a murky war zone.

The Janjaweed militia has been blamed for much of the bloodshed. But rebel violence and hostility to aid workers has escalated since May, when one rebel faction signed a shaky peace agreement with the government. Humanitarian groups and African Union police say they withdrew from Kassab in September mostly because of the rebel violence.

The camp's clinic closed, so refugees in need of treatment trudge to the nearest town. Women say taking that road, or even collecting firewood around the camp, exposes them to robbery and rape.

"Every day we risk being beaten, or even worse," said Kharidja Ibrahim, some of whose family members had gone wood-gathering that morning. "We're waiting. In a few hours, we'll hear what has happened to them."

Tribal leaders say armed men now plunder the camp at will.

"Four days ago, they came in broad daylight and stole 84 goats," said Abdallah Shariff. He said nights are even worse.

"We can't sleep. We go to bed with our shoes on," he said, in case they have to flee.

Egyptian Maj. Ahmed El Serafy, who commands African Union police in the sector of Darfur that includes Kassab, said improving security in Kassab is an urgent task for what few forces he has -- 82 police officers for an area of 13,000 square miles.

"I knew it was going to be bad, but I never thought it would be this bad," he said.

Serafy said that police would resume day patrols in Kassab next week and that he hoped this show of force would improve security. But the African Union's officers go unarmed, and he said some were afraid to return to the refugee camp.

Even though refugees are frustrated with the A.U. peacekeepers, camp leaders pleaded with the delegation last week to return soon, saying time is running out.

"For now, we're on our own," said Youssouf Aldoun. "He is all we have for protection" he said, pointing his palms toward the sky in a Muslim gesture that signifies God.