Sudan slow to let Canadian vehicles into Darfur

CBC News
Dozens of Canadian armoured vehicles are sitting idle in Senegal, three months after they were delivered to help African Union soldiers stop human rights abuses in Sudan.

"It's been very frustrating dealing with the Sudanese government," Defence Minister Bill Graham acknowledged Wednesday.

"It's obviously very frustrating to have that equipment there that could enhance the performance of the African Union troops and their inability to get them."

The 105 vehicles were supposed to be a big part of Canada's contribution to peacekeeping efforts in Sudan, a loan to troops trying to police the ethnic conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Darfur and left two million homeless.

"The African Union has the troops, it has the responsibility, it has the political desire to manage this crisis," Graham said in July when he announced the vehicles would be sent. "But it needs our help."

But the Sudanese government has been slow to allow the vehicles into the country.


FROM MARCH 24, 2005: UN peacekeepers headed to Sudan, but not Darfur

Retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie is not surprised by the delay, which he said underlines the need for a more robust military presence in Darfur.

The African Union presence alone isn't enough, he said.

"If their mandate doesn't permit them to kill the bad guys, when you get bad guys who are doing the raping and murdering, the presence of vehicles will just enhance the movement capability. It won't stop the killing," said MacKenzie.

The Department of National Defence said that once Khartoum grants final permission to allow the vehicles in, it will move the Grizzlies and Huskies into the country using leased aircraft.

Even when they get there, Independent member of Parliament David Kilgour says the vehicles won't be able to do much to stop violent acts being committed in Darfur by government-backed janjaweed militia.

"All they do is wait for the Grizzlies to drive by and then go and do their appalling atrocities. You can see these things a long way away. The people in the Grizzlies have no mandate to do anything."

Kilgour, a former Liberal, has been a vocal critic of the Canadian government's actions with regard to the Sudanese conflict.


Copyright ©2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved