Finland to send civilian police to Darfur UN peacekeeping operation

Hundreds of soldiers from Sweden and Norway to Sudan

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Finland plans to send 5-10 civilian personnel to the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Darfur region of Sudan to help in the training of police officers there.
      Finland has given a positive response to a request from the UN, said Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition Party) in Turku on Friday, at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Nordic and Baltic countries.
      The police are to go to Sudan during the autumn. Finland had previously decided against sending military forces to Darfur, saying that its resources are insufficient.
      Kanerva said that civilian police are a different matter, because the decision does not require additional resources. The funding for the civilian police is to come from money earmarked for civilian crisis management. Finland currently has two civilian police officers in Sudan helping in training as part of the UN UNMIS operation.
     
Sweden and Norway will send a combined 350 engineers to Darfur for construction and transport work, said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Turku. The countries received confirmation from the UN that the troops offered by the countries are needed in the operation. A decision on the matter still requires Parliamentary approval. Half of the forces will come from Sweden, and the other half from Norway. They are to be deployed by the end of 2007 for up to one year.
      The ministers also discussed cooperation in the Afghanistan crisis management operation. Kanerva pointed out that nearly all other countries taking part in the meeting are giving more support to Afghanistan than Finland is, with larger military commitments, as well as materiel support, including donations of weaponry.
      Finland has about 100 soldiers in the crisis management operation in Afghanistan. Sweden has 350, Denmark has 4000, Estonia has 130, Latvia has less than 100, and Lithuania has 130. Last year Finland gave Afghanistan about EUR 8 million in development aid. Sweden's contribution was EUR 40 million, and Norway's was EUR 60 million.
      "It would be a surprise if Finland did not support Afghanistan more in the future", Kanerva said. In his view, the support could be in the form of development aid, as well as educational and material support - not necessarily bigger military forces.
      The ministers of Norway, Sweden, and Finland held separate talks on cooperation in the Afghan crisis management operation.
     
Kanerva said that it is possible that Finland and Sweden would divide the territory of the provincial crisis management force in the north of Afghanistan. He said that the matter would be reviewed more closely in an Afghanistan report that is currently being prepared by the ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, and Defence.
      The ministers had unofficial discussions on the planned Russian-German underwater gas pipeline that is to go through the Baltic Sea. The Baltic countries and Poland oppose the plan. Estonian Foreign minister Urmas Paet did not ask directly, if he wanted Finland to back the countries in the matter, but he expressed the hope that the countries on the Baltic Sea would support Estonia's stance. Paet said that Estonia is concerned that the pipeline and its construction work would cause environmental harm to the Baltic Sea.
      Kanerva said that the Baltic Sea Protection Commission (HELCOM) would be the best forum to deal with environmental problems in the Baltic Sea.
      He added that cooperation in the Baltic Sea area could be enhanced through a Baltic Sea strategy to be drawn up for the EU.
      "It is significant that all countries of the Baltic Sea should commit to cooperation, in environmental questions as well", he said.
      Kanerva plans to see to it that enough funding is set aside in next year's budget for improving the state of the Baltic Sea.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Foreign Minister Kanerva: Finland should not delay decision on NRF forces (17.8.2007)

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