AMIS: Peacekeeping in Darfur

A comprehensive history of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) from its inception in 2004 until replacement in 2007 by UNAMID.

The Darfur region of Sudan was long beset by cultural and ethnic differences between the nomadic peoples of Arab descent and the sedentary farming populace of black African descent. After civil war erupted in 2003 between the government-sponsored Janjaweed militias on one side and the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on the other, the African Union moved to provide a peacekeeping force for the region: the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).

AMIS was hampered by chronic underfunding and understaffing from the outset, and whilst seeking support and financing from international bodies, including the European Union, was reluctant to accept advice and non-African solutions to African problems. Furthermore, the Sudanese government was reluctant to allow foreign organisations, whether African or not, to operate on its territory, thus undermining the authority of AMIS and its ability to bring peace.

Into this difficult situation stepped co-author Major János Besenyő, a military logistics expert from Hungary, as part of the support provided to AMIS by the European Union. Besenyő’s first-hand experience of the situation on the ground helps to inform this account of the logistical and administrative difficulties faced by AMIS, and other supporting organisations, as it attempted to bring peace to the Darfur region of Sudan, how AMIS evolved through a number of stages continually expanding its capabilities, and ultimately transitioned to a United Nations mission as UNAMID (United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur) in 2007.

AMIS: Peacekeeping in Darfur, The African Union Mission in Sudan, 2004–2006 offers a detailed background of the Darfur region of Sudan and the underlying causes of the ethnic strife found there, the causes of the 2003 conflict, and the difficulties faced in bringing peace and stability to a region where the environmental conditions were as great a challenge as the fighting. This work is illustrated throughout with original photographs and includes the @War series’ signature colour artworks.