Originally published on the CGS blog on January 28, 2011.
On Thursday the Sudanese army threatened U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur after a tense couple months in the region. Sudanese soldiers threatened to “burn to the ground” camps for internally displaced person (IDPs). This comes as the United States has called for the United Nations-African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to better protect civilians. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice stated that, “we expect UNAMID, as one of the UN’s largest and most costly operations, with one of the most robust mandates passed by the Security Council, to be very active and, when necessary, aggressive… to protect civilians.” Fighting between the Sudanese army and Darfur rebels has caused 43,000 people to flee since December.
This situation brings up another great argument for the creation of a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS). UNEPS would consist of 12,000-18,000 civilian police, military, judicial, and relief professionals, employed by the United Nations, that could deploy within 48 hours of a Security Council authorization. The force would be permanent and voluntary; its participants could be trained together in the same language, use the same weapons and communications equipment for greater interoperability, have a clear chain of command and would have a greater level of commitment to the success of their missions. A force of 200 Sudanese soldiers would not be able to stop a UNEPS force.
Instead of just calling for a more action, the U.S. and other major powers should create a UNEPS force that would not only help in Darfur, but in other areas where there are similar situations, such as the current situation in Cote d’Ivoire, that I wrote about last week. Civilian protection should be a major priority for U.N. peacekeepers. When they are unable to carry this out we all have a serious problem.
