Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

With the price of South Africa's peacekeeping mission in Sudan's troubled Darfur region reaching about R100 million for the troops stationed there, the mission is increasingly stretching the budget of the South African National Defence Force, a Department of Foreign Affairs official says.

And it is not only South Africa but also the African Union that is feeling the financial pressure from keeping a peacekeeping force and protecting the local civilian population in the vast area of western Sudan that is Darfur, parliament's Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs heard.

Keeping South Africa's 314 "boots on the ground" in Darfur was not "inexpensive", said Jessie Duarte, the deputy director-general on the DFA's Africa multilateral desk.

She said the price of keeping these troops there was "leaning towards" R100 million out of the SANDF budget.

Apart from the 314 SANDF troops members in the Sudan, there are also 125 SA Police Service members assisting with policing there, according to DFA.

The African Union, which is managing the peacekeeping operation there under the AMIS force mandated by the AU's Peace and Security Council, is also feeling the financial pressure of the Darfur conflict and even international donors are beginning to hold back.

Ms Duarte's colleague, Kingsley Makhubela, the DFA's chief director for East Africa, told MPs that "the AU does not have adequate funds to continue the operation in Darfur and the donor countries are not willing to continue to contribute [there]".

The United Nations is, however, expected to take over the peacekeeping mission later this year.

The AU Peace and Security Council decided at a meeting last week to extend the mandate of the AMIS (the African Union Mission in Sudan) until September 30, after which the UN is expected to assume responsibility.

This "rehatting" - from the AU peacekeepers to the UN's blue helmets - comes after the AU's Peace and Security Council, using uncharacteristically strong language, "demanded" that the parties involved in the conflict there demonstrate a commitment to bringing the conflict in Darfur to an end and conclude a peace agreement by the end of April.

The transition from AMIS to the UN's blue helmets was discussed by President Thabo Mbeki and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Cape Town on Tuesday, with President Mbeki later reaffirming to reporters that the United Nations would be taking over from the AMIS force.

But the United Nations, according to its mandate, can only move in once a ceasefire is in place.

This gives the situation more urgency, and the AU is likely to bring more pressure to bear on the conflicting parties - the government of Sudan, which has been accused of being supportive of the notorious Janjaweed militia, and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement - to move rapidly towards an agreement.

South Africa was keeping "a daily watch" on developments in Sudan, said Ms Duarte, underlying the urgency with which the situation was being regarded.

Mr Makhubela told MPs that international donors were increasingly linking aid to the south of Sudan - which was undergoing reconstruction, assisted heavily by South Africa, after a protracted war with the north that ended the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed last year - with progress towards peace in Darfur.

Worsening the situation is the fact that the Sudanese government has been moving the troops it had stationed in the south to Darfur, according to the DFA. This is in violation of a UN Security Council resolution and is exacerbating the conflict in the Darfur region.

Aside from having peacekeeping troops in Darfur under the AU mandate, South Africa has not yet been directly involved in the peace process in Darfur, having focused - successfully - its efforts at stabilizing the long-troubled south of Sudan.

The peace talks on Darfur that have been continuing in Abuja, Nigeria, have been criticized for more moving too slowly and both sides in the negotiations have been accused of breaching ceasefire agreements, MPs learned.

A United Nations panel has already proposed that sanctions be imposed against several senior Sudanese officials and rebel leaders for impeding peace efforts, and has even indicated, according to a DFA briefing paper, that it is considering calling for punitive measures against the presidents of both Sudan and neighbouring Chad.

Relations between these two countries have soured over accusations by both of supporting rebel activity in their respective territories as the conflict starts to spill over the border with Sudan's western neighbour.

The UN news agency IRIN reported this week that African Union mediators in Abuja have proposed putting rival forces in Sudan's Darfur conflict behind buffer zones after ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly ignored.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said this week that the deteriorating security situation in eastern Chad was forcing it to relocate thousands of refugees away from the border region and further into Chad.

UNHCR also reported that some Chadians were even fleeing into Darfur to escape violence on their side of the border.