The African Union Mission in SUDAN (AMIS) Experiences and Lessons Learned

"The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) was active in Darfur from 2004 to late 2007. This report provides an evaluation of AMIS, looking at its contribution to the peace process in Darfur, its efforts with protecting civilians, and protection of humanitarian agencies. The report also covers the impact of the AMIS experience on the African Standby Force and the subsequent AU operations in Somalia and the Comoros. The report concludes that AMIS was too small to reach its objectives. The mandate included protecting civilians, but this task was formulated ambiguously. Thus, AMIS commanders were forced to decide on interpretations of the mandate through the Rules of Engagement, and acted more passively than allowed by the mandate. Where deployed, AMIS prevented murder and displacement. However, because of its limited resources, large-scale violence and displacement continued, and the mission could do little to support the Darfur peace process. AMIS was dependent on donors, especially the EU. However, the design of the support made long-term planning difficult for AMIS. For future international support to African peace operations, donors should both increase strategic command capabilities at the AU level and support individual African militaries. Several of the weaknesses of AMIS are seen in recent AU operations. In Somalia, an undersized mission was authorized based on the faulty assumption that the UN would take over. In the Comoros, the AU appears to have carried out a successful peace operation, but as with AMIS, the prelude displayed division between the AU member states "