People arrive at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees transit centre in Renk, South Sudan, on May 1, 2023.Jok Solomun/Reuters
Calls for a peacekeeping force to protect Sudan’s besieged population are gaining momentum among experts and activists worldwide, despite an attempt by the United Nations Secretary-General to fend off the idea.
António Guterres told the UN Security Council this week that the conditions “do not exist” for a UN peacekeeping force to be deployed to Sudan to protect the millions of civilians who have suffered the constant threat of massacres, sexual violence, starvation and torture since the war began last year.
But he is facing criticism for failing to show stronger support for a proposal that many groups are increasingly promoting as the best response to a catastrophic conflict that has forced more than 11 million people to abandon their homes and may have caused as many as 150,000 deaths.
Even before Mr. Guterres’s comments on Monday ignited further debate on the idea, the peacekeeping proposal had already won support from advocates such as Roméo Dallaire, the retired Canadian general who headed the UN force in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, and Joyce Banda, the former president of Malawi.
“It is true that numerous bureaucratic, institutional and political obstacles stand in our way,” Ms. Banda said. “But we must not be deterred. Will we stand by as Sudan suffers mass atrocities, disease, famine, rape, mass displacement and social disintegration?”
A protection force, she said, could set up humanitarian corridors and safe zones to shelter civilians and boost access to aid, while also allowing data gathering, monitoring and early warning systems.
The peacekeeping idea is also supported by human-rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, by a Sudan fact-finding mission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and by many Sudanese people themselves.
The UN traditionally waits for a formal ceasefire before considering the deployment of peacekeepers. But ceasefire negotiations have repeatedly failed over the past 18 months, and no further talks are on the horizon.
“Ways must be found to create conditions for the immediate deployment of an independent protection force,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the UN fact-finding mission.
“There is no safe place in Sudan now,” he said this week, calling for the “urgent” protection of the country’s civilians.
The UN fact-finding mission, in its latest report, documented a wide range of war crimes by both sides in the war – the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces militia – including a “staggering” level of sexual violence, often committed “with particular cruelty” by perpetrators who brandished guns, knives and whips to coerce their victims while using racist slurs and death threats against them.
Shayna Lewis, Sudan specialist at global campaign group Avaaz, said the UN is wrong to wait for a diplomatic agreement before deploying a civilian protection force. “The warring parties won’t even show up to the negotiating table, and leaving them to self-police has resulted in the most appalling war crimes, with no end in sight,” she said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General is dodging his responsibility by insisting on a nationwide ceasefire before the UN steps up to protect civilians,” she said. “How many massacres and gang rapes will it take for the UN to fulfil its mandate and protect the people of Sudan?”
The UN had previously deployed a peacekeeping force in Darfur, a western region of Sudan, for more than a decade, but it shut down in 2021 after Sudan’s authoritarian government obstructed the peacekeepers and hobbled their movements.
Walter Dorn, a peacekeeping expert and professor of defence studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, said Mr. Guterres is known to be resistant to the creation of new UN missions and remains the only UN secretary-general who has not established any new peacekeeping operations.
“I am not surprised, but still mighty disappointed, that Secretary-General Guterres is not showing an eagerness to explore the possibilities of a UN mission in Sudan,” Prof. Dorn told The Globe and Mail.
“It is desperately needed. The Secretary-General should at least be showing a readiness to put together such an observer mission or UN force. It could have value even as the eyes and ears of the international community during the conflict, helping to de-escalate the situation and reduce civilian casualties.”
A traditional peacekeeping mission would require the consent of the warring parties, but a more heavily armed enforcement operation could be deployed without their consent, as long as it is approved by the UN Security Council.
This kind of enforcement mission might be vetoed by Russia or China at the Security Council, Prof. Dorn said. “However, the immediate need is clear. Civilians need protection.”
In the meantime, he said, the UN should be preparing for a possible peacekeeping mission. “The United Nations should now be making plans for such a force so it could be deployed rapidly once authorized.”