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Download PDF Bangladesh is likely to send around 2,000 troops to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region as part of a joint United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) “hybrid force” that was accepted by the Sudanese government last week.
The possible deployment may come during a UN probe into reports of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo “seriously mistreating” and killing detainees in retaliation for an ambush by the Congolese rebels that killed several Bangladeshi peacekeepers in 2005.
There are already 1,449 Bangladeshi peacekeepers in other regions of Sudan, out of the 9,677 Bangladeshi peacekeepers scattered around the world.
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Chowdhury yesterday confirmed to the press that Bangladesh is likely to participate in a “big way” in Darfur but skirted around questions on the UN probe in Congo saying if the troops were found guilty, the government would take action.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, he said Bangladesh’s participation in the Darfur force is still in the preliminary stage but he hoped the UN would find Bangladesh’s offer attractive. Iftekhar said nothing concrete has been put in place yet.
Last month Iftekhar met the Sudanese foreign minister at an Islamic foreign ministers’ conference in Pakistan where they discussed possible Bangladeshi assistance in bringing peace to the war-torn country, sources in the foreign ministry said.
Although Bangladesh remains at the forefront of the proposed non-African contributors to at least 20,000 hybrid force bound for Darfur, Sudanese authorities have insisted that the majority of the troops must come from AU countries and the AU would control the force.
Foreign ministry sources say the hybrid force of army and police personnel may be 17,000 if they are “mobile” and is likely to be constituted by two African and two non-African countries.
Even after the UN has pledged to give preference to African troops and police, the UN must look to non-African contributors to contribute troops. At this stage, Bangladesh is only likely to contribute two battalions, or two thousand troops, to the hybrid force, the sources added.
Bangladesh is the second largest troops contributor to UN peacekeeping missions.
This would be the first deployment of Bangladeshi peacekeepers after the declaration of the state of emergency.
Various international agencies have accused the Sudanese government of committing genocide in Darfur, where reportedly 200,000 people have been killed in the past four years. But the Sudanese government claims only a few thousand have died.
Meanwhile, the UN is probing allegations of Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers opening fire on eight Congolese prisoners, killing one and seriously injuring another, who were trying to escape on February 27, 2005 in the Ituri region of Congo.
“I am very much concerned about this incident where detainees have been excessively mistreated by peacekeepers,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last week.
The alleged incident took place two days after nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in an ambush in the same region.
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