Darfur Mission Lacks Tools, U.N. Says

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 9 -- Even as nearly two dozen countries are signing up to send thousands of peacekeepers to Darfur, a U.N.-backed force deploying there still lacks crucial equipment, a shortfall that could threaten the viability of the mission, according to senior U.N. officials.

The shortages gained urgency this month as the United Nations rejected a Jordanian offer to supply 10 transport and attack helicopters to reinforce the new African Union-U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur. They said the aircraft are too small, lack night-vision technology and cannot travel long distances required in the mission, according to U.N. and Jordanian officials.

The action represents a significant setback for U.N. efforts to send more than 26,000 peacekeepers to replace a smaller African Union mission of 7,000. It also underscores the difficulties faced by U.N. planners who are seeking to cobble together a force for Darfur drawn primarily from 19 poor countries in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

The violence in Darfur began in early 2003, when two Darfurian rebel groups launched raids on Sudanese police outposts. In response, Khartoum armed and sponsored local Arab militia, who destroyed hundreds of villages and drove 2 million people from their homes. The Bush administration has labeled the situation genocide, citing reports that more than 200,000 to 450,000 people may have died because of the violence.

The African Union sent its peacekeepers to Darfur in 2004 to help stem the violence. After initial successes, the African force has hunkered down in the face of increasing attacks against its unpaid, poorly equipped troops.

On Sept. 29, rebel forces reportedly destroyed an African Union compound in a remote region of South Darfur, killing 10 A.U. peacekeepers near the town of Haskanita. U.N. officials say that the helicopters are designed to prevent such attacks. "We see those assets as really critical for us to avoid the kind of disaster that took place in Haskanita," U.N. Undersecretary for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Gu¿henno said in an interview Tuesday. "So we will be pressing all around the world: African countries, non-African countries" for the helicopters.

Gu¿henno's office informed Jordan in a confidential Oct. 3 letter that its pledge of six Cobra attack helicopters and four Huey transport helicopters "cannot be accepted for deployment in Darfur" because the helicopters do not match U.N. requirements. The decision ended nearly six months of negotiations with Jordan and leaves the United Nations without an alternative.

Gu¿henno held a news conference on Monday to draw attention to U.N. shortages of advanced air and land transport assets needed to respond to crises in remote parts of the country. He said the United Nations also needs more land to build barracks to accommodate thousands of additional troops. The United Nations' failure to acquire these assets could jeopardize its efforts "to stabilize a region where there has been so much suffering," he added.

U.N. officials said Gu¿henno and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will begin contacting heads of states and senior officials in Africa, Europe and elsewhere that possess advanced helicopters. The United States has made clear it will not provide the helicopters, and Sudan's ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said U.S. pilots would not be allowed to participate in the mission. U.N. military planners have urged South Africa to supply helicopters, but Pretoria has demurred, limiting its commitment to a battalion of 800 infantry troops.

The United Nations, meanwhile, has been awash in commitments for ground troops, including nearly 16,000 infantry, medics and engineers from Nigeria, Rwanda, Egypt and nine other African countries. Another 4,000 peacekeepers will come from China, Pakistan, Thailand, Nepal and Bangladesh. Four European countries -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- are prepared to commit about 400 medics, engineers and security forces.