http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=33915UN-AU Darfur force chief quits job, hails missionKHARTOUM - The outgoing head of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur defended his soldiers against criticism of their effectiveness, insisting they have ended the massacres that long plagued the Sudanese region.
"I have achieved results," Rodolphe Adada said.
"The main result is the end of massacres in Darfur," he said, as he prepared to step down as head of the world's biggest peacekeeping operation.
Some critics claimed that the joint United Nations-African Union force (UNAMID) was inefficient.
"I would like to be judged, for UNAMID to be judged, on the number of deaths in Darfur," since the force's deployment there in 2008, said Adada. "That's how we should be judged."
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In October, Agwai said that mistakes by the international community have prolonged the conflict and that there is no immediate prospect for peace.
A year and a half after its deployment, the peacekeeping mission counts some 18,500 soldiers and policemen, out of the 26,000 mandated by the UN Security Council. The force still lacks military helicopters, hampering its ability to patrol a region the size of France.
Is France to blame?snip
Many of the rebels enjoy direct and indirect foreign support that helped fuel the conflict, with some critics pointing the finger at France, which has a military presence in neighbouring Chad – also accused of arming the Sudanese rebels. France had been accused of involvement in the genocide in Rwanda, but Paris denied responsibility, conceding only that ‘political’ errors were made.