Darfur Security in Freefall: Humanitarian Collapse May Occur Any Moment

Minni Minawi faction of SLA now actively coordinating with Khartoum’s military forces in North Darfur
Eric Reeves

The multiples failures of the African Union mission in Darfur have for the past week been spectacularly on display, even as the security challenges in protecting civilians and humanitarian operations grow daily greater. The AU has virtually collapsed as an effective force in much of Darfur, almost on the eve of a donors’ conference in Brussels that is supposed to determine how to sustain AU operations---financially and politically.
Despite the tactful commendations of AU efforts that have in the past come from various quarters, the widely understood truth is that this desperately under-manned and under-equipped force is failing in ever more significant ways. It is demoralized, fearful, and attempting less and less in the way of civilian protection. At the same time, the AU leadership is shamefully refusing to speak publicly about the widening violence in North Darfur, which increasingly involves military cooperation between the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction of Minni Minawi and Khartoum’s regular forces. Read the entire article >>>