Darfur Peacekeepers Short Of Men, Gear A Year On

Commentators have blamed both U.N. bureaucracy and obstruction from the Khartoum regime for the hold-ups.

Darfur peacekeepers remain critically short of manpower and have less than half the equipment they need a year into their mission, a U.N. official said on Sunday.

The joint U.N./African Union UNAMID force only managed to get 58 per cent of its forces on to the ground in its first 12 months, narrowly missing lowered deployment targets, according to the latest figures.

And even those peacekeepers are short of vital equipment, including helicopters, armoured personnel carriers and medical gear, said a UNAMID spokesman.

"It's not good enough," UNAMID spokesman Reuben Inaju told Reuters. "It is up to the donor countries to live up to their promises so that the force can act."

UNAMID, which is supposed to keep the peace in a region about the size of Spain, has faced serious delays in transporting its troops, police and equipment into the violent western region.

Commentators have blamed both U.N. bureaucracy and obstruction from the Khartoum regime for the hold-ups.

The United Nations initially hoped to get 80 percent of UNAMID's 26,000-strong force into the country by the close of its first year on December 31.

In October officials said the target was unrealistic and lowered it to 60 percent.

But figures seen by Reuters on Sunday show there were 12,377 UNAMID soldiers and 2,803 police officers in Darfur at the end of the year, totalling just over 58 per cent of full deployment.

"That is in terms of personnel," said Inaju. "But in terms of enabling materials like helicopters and APCs (armoured personnel carriers), we are only at about 40 per cent of full capacity."

International experts say 200,000 people have died in almost six years of fighting in Darfur.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of neglect. Khartoum, which mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the uprising, denies accusations by activists that it committed genocide during the counter-insurgency.

The situation has since collapsed into a chaotic conflict, involving bandits, insurgent splinter groups, government troops, warring tribes and lawless militias.

UNAMID took over from a beleaguered African Union force in January 2008.