African Union troops due to go to Darfur to protect ceasefire monitors will not stand idle if civilians are attacked in the troubled region of western Sudan, AU officials said today.
But the Sudanese government immediately challenged the comments which came after an AU summit, saying the troops would protect only monitors; state forces would guard civilians.
The Darfur conflict, described by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, is seen by analysts and diplomats as a major test for the two-year-old AU. The body is trying to win increased Western investment in return for ending wars and despotism and curbing corruption.
The African Union plans to send 300 armed soldiers to Darfur to protect 60 AU officials monitoring a shaky ceasefire signed between the Sudanese government and rebels in April and officials say they could increase the numbers if necessary.
AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said the force would not stand idle if people were being killed in front of it.
"These forces that are coming are to protect the observation mission but they cannot remain passive when faced with human rights violations," he told reporters after the summit. "We recommend that this force be deployed as quickly as possible and we really hope before the end of the month."
But Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said of the mandate: "Sudan has no problem if you want to send protection forces but it is protection forces to protect the monitors (only). The protection of civilians is the responsibility of the Sudanese government."
The small AU force will attempt to patrol the overcrowded refugee camps and border areas between Sudan and Chad to check for ceasefire violations in an area where hundreds of thousands of people caught up in widespread looting and burning of villages by Arab "Janjaweed" militia in Sudan's far west.
No one expects the small AU force to provide more than token protection for civilians in an area the size of France. But any reports it makes on acts of violence will carry considerable diplomatic weight.
The African bloc has consistently supported Khartoum against Western criticism in international bodies such as the U.N. human rights forum and diplomats said Sudan would be wary of alienating some of its most vocal defenders.
Sudan's Islamist government has been under heavy international pressure to stop attacks on African civilians by militias of Arab heritage.