July 1, 2005, the day the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started airlifting African Union's (AU) peacekeeping troops into the war-torn region of Darfur in western Sudan, began the bloc's first ever mission in Africa.

While accelerating its transformation into a force able to exert influences outside its traditional European arena, the US- led military alliance has in recent years accomplished its missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas of the world in fairly successful way.

The past few years have also witnessed NATO signing a number of partnership accords with north African countries and carried out joint military maneuvers with a number of these states.

GREATER ROLE IN AFRICA

At a meeting of NATO ministers of defense in Brussels on June 9- 10, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced that NATO and the AU had reached consensus on helping the AU airlift peacekeepers from African contributing countries into Darfur, train AU troops in running multinational military headquarters and managing intelligence.

So far, NATO has sent eight experts to Africa to help coordinate the airlift and planned to dispatch 24 more officers to help train AU headquarters staff in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and prepare a command exercise.

All this shows that the 26-member US-led military alliance is to assume a greater role in African affairs by helping the AU end the two-year-old Darfur crisis, which has so far killed thousands of people and driven more than one million others from their homes.

The AU so far has 2,200-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur, but this could rise to more than 7,700 by September and 12,000 in early 2006. But its deployment plan has been stalled by logistical problems and lack of air transport.

To speed up the deployment, the AU has asked both NATO and the European Union (EU) specifically for logistical support including troop transport and lodging, as well as training, communications equipment and other materials. TOUGH CHALLENGES WITHIN

The NATO Darfur mission is fully backed by the United Sates. But it has faced some reservations notably from NATO nations like France, whose Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said recently that NATO was not supposed to be "the world's gendarme."

Barnier, whose nation led a group of countries against the war in Iraq, said he would prefer the EU to lend support to the AU.

But NATO Spokesman James Appathurai said the key point is that NATO's mission in Darfur "will be led by the African Union," he said, adding that NATO would not send troops to Darfur.

Together with the EU, the 26-member NATO has agreed with the AU to provide a skeleton staff of military officers to coordinate the airlift of soldiers to Darfur as well as provide planning and logistics and assist with training.

According to Gen. Harald Kujat, the outgoing chairman of NATO's Military Committee and former chief of staff of the German armed forces, NATO is now intensifying its cooperation with other international organizations such as the EU, the United Nations and the AU.

"We are active in exporting security and stability and supporting other organizations," he said.

Since the end of the Cold War 15 years ago, NATO has shifted it focus from Europe to other parts of the world. "It makes much more sense to export stability and fight the sources of the risks where they have their roots," Kujat said.

A Nigerian military officer explained that France, the once colonial master of a number of African countries, does not take part in NATO's military operation, so it would not ordinarily support NATO in its sphere of military influence.

However, many Nigerians believed individual NATO countries would like to make direct contributions to peacekeeping operations in Africa.

"I understand that some African leaders, especially those from the Anglophone bloc would want a reversal of the situation," said Ike Mbonu, a senior political editor of the News Agency of Nigeria.

LONG WAY TO GO

Although NATO has taken the first step into Africa, the world's poorest continent may not be that easy to stay.

"We black people prefer to handle our affairs by ourselves," Mbonu said, adding Africans have a strong sense of self-respect and self-reliance.

Any foreign troops in Africa can only be part of a UN peacekeeping mission, he added.

"Attempts by foreign powers to intervene African affairs militarily and politically would undermine democratic governance as well as unity, stability and security in Africa," he said.

Local observers believed that the NATO's three-month mission of airlifting African peacekeepers into Darfur would not only help the AU strengthen its existing monitoring force to end violence in the war-torn region, but aimed at exerting more influence on the continent.

"The NATO's mission is a step to realize its dream to set its foot on the African soil," said a research fellow from the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

The researcher who gave his name simply as Edun said it is a common knowledge that NATO has been trying find an excuse to deploy its troops in Africa for many years.

"NATO initially intended to deploy its Rapid Response Force in Darfur, but failed because the AU believes it can solve the crisis by itself," he said.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Moustafa Osmane Ismail said NATO could only provide support to the AU on condition that there were "no troops other than Africans" on Darfur soil.

So far, NATO has never "set its foot on African soil" although it has dreamed for years to do so, Edun said.

Source: Xinhua