Darfur Crisis: Progress in Aid and Peace Monitoring Threatened by Ongoing Violence and Operational Challenges
GAO-07-9
Published: Nov 09, 2006. Publicly Released: Dec 11, 2006.
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Highlights
In 2003, violent conflict in Darfur, Sudan broke out between rebel groups, government troops, and government-supported Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed. The conflict has displaced about 2 million Darfurians and has so affected over 1.9 million others that they require assistance. Since October 2003, the U.S. government has provided humanitarian assistance in Darfur and supported African Union Mission in Sudan's (AMIS) efforts to fulfill a peace support mandate. This report reviews (1) U.S. humanitarian assistance provided to Darfur and the challenges that have been encountered and (2) African Union efforts to fulfill its mandate and challenges that have affected these efforts.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should encourage the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to ensure that an appropriate body, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, provide assistance for an assessment of AMIS operations to identify the key challenges AMIS has faced and the reasons for those challenges. Such a "lessons learned" assessment would provide information necessary to allow (1) the African Union to strengthen its future peace support planning and operations and (2) the donor community to support future African Union peace support efforts in a manner that could minimize difficulties such as those encountered by AMIS. |
Since our report, responsibility for peace monitoring in the Darfur was subsequently transferred to the United Nations. In the meantime, NATO has continued to provide support to African Union peace monitoring operation, basing training in part on lessons learned from the Darfur effort.
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Topics
Aid to refugeesFederal aid to foreign countriesGenocideHuman rights violationsInternational cooperationInternational food programsInternational organizationsInternational relationsMilitary forcesNonprofit organizationsPeacekeeping forcesPolicy evaluationProgram evaluationRefugeesRisk assessmentHuman rights