African Union Mission in Sudan
A more sizable, better equipped UN peacekeeping force was originally proposed for September 2006, but due to Sudanese government opposition, it was not implemented at that time.
In September of that year, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1564, which gave Sudan the ultimatum of accepting an expanded AU force or facing sanctions of their oil industry.
On 9 November, the government of Sudan and the two leading rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), signed two short term peace agreements aimed toward progress in ending the conflict.
The first treaty established a no-fly zone over rebel-controlled areas of Darfur, a measure designed to end the Sudanese military's bombing of rebel villages in the region.
On September 15, a series of African Union mediated talks began in Abuja, Nigeria between representatives of the Sudanese government and the two major rebel groups.
After a government-supported Arab militia attacked the Aro Sharow refugee camp on September 28, killing at least 32, the African Union on October 1 accused both the Sudanese government and rebels of violating the ceasefire agreement.
The Associated Press reports the African Union as condemning the government's acts of calculated and wanton destruction that have killed at least 44 people and displaced thousands over two weeks.
Forces from the Sudanese rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), assisted in liberating 38 African Union (AU) personnel that had been taken hostage on 9 October.
It has been noted that aid agencies are refusing to travel with African Union personnel, stating that the mere presence of the peacekeepers may draw fire.
On August 31, after United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706 failed to see the implementation of its proposed UN peacekeeping force of 20,000 due to opposition from the government of Sudan, on 2 October the AU extended AMIS' mandate further, until 31 December 2006, and then again until June 30, 2007.
John Predergast of the International Crisis Group noted, The big money problem is that the Americans and the Europeans promised over the last decade that as long as the Africans deployed in these kinds of situations, we would pay for the soldiers and equip them.
[8] On 30 September 2007, a major raid on an AU base, mounted by approximately 1,000 Sudan Liberation Army rebels, claimed the lives of at least 10 peacekeepers and wounded many more.
The attack occurred just after sunset in the northern part of Darfur province, and comes amid increasing tensions and violence between the separatist rebels and foreign peacekeepers, with the latter often accused of abrogating their neutrality and bias towards the central government.
