U.S. urges U.N. to speed up Darfur deployment

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has urged the United Nations to speed deployment of more U.N.-African Union peacekeepers to Sudan's war-racked Darfur region, a U.S. diplomat said in a letter to the U.N. chief.

Only 9,000 of the required 26,000 international troops and police have been deployed in Darfur. Western governments have blamed Khartoum for the slow pace of deployment, saying it has dragged its feet in approving the composition of the force and set up unnecessary obstacles.

But in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Presidential Envoy for Darfur Richard Williamson made clear that Washington felt the United Nations shared some of the blame for the slow deployment.

"The United States supports the U.N.'s objective to deploy the best-equipped troops possible, but it seems that some U.N. practices may hinder deployment," Williamson said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

"We believe that the deployment of 3,600 new African troops by June -- a target number based on the U.N.'s planning schedule -- will bring increased security and stability to the people of Darfur," he said.

Washington has pledged $100 million to train and equip peacekeepers to be deployed as part of the U.N.-AU mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID. But it has not offered the two things the United Nations needs most -- helicopters and troops.

The U.N. peacekeeping department wants six attack and 18 transport helicopters with night-flying capability so that UNAMID can move troops around Darfur, an area roughly the size of France.

The United Nations has accepted some helicopters from Ethiopia but has had to turn down Jordanian choppers because they lacked night-flight capability.

The U.S. envoy said Ethiopian and Rwandan troops were now participating in a U.S.-sponsored training program, adding that Washington would encourage other countries to offer troops. Egyptian troops also are scheduled to go to Darfur.

NO PRESSURE ON CHINA

Diplomats familiar with the U.N. discussions on troop deployment and the hunt for helicopters said one problem with getting all the troops to Darfur is that neither Khartoum nor the rebels appear to want an end to the fighting.

"This is essentially a political issue," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "We need to solve it."

Another Western diplomat said some U.N. Security Council members were considering the idea of setting "benchmarks" for Khartoum with specific goals and deadlines to motivate it to speed up approval of UNAMID troops.

One Western diplomat said neither Washington nor Russia was using its full diplomatic clout with China, which enjoys good relations with Sudan and is believed to have significant influence there, to put pressure on Khartoum to remove roadblocks to the full deployment of UNAMID.

China, which recently urged Sudan to allow the deployment of UNAMID, has been accused by several non-governmental organizations of being soft on Khartoum.