Darfur Translators on Strike

Though mandated to remain in Darfur until June 2007, according to The Associated Press and BBC News, 150 African Union mission interpreters in Darfur have gone on strike over unpaid wages. They are claiming to have gone without pay for three months, however an AU official claims that they had been paid in January.

The Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said that the Darfur interpreters, who translate between AU troops and non-Arabic speaking refugees, complained of not having been paid for the months of Decmeber, January and February.

AU spokesman, Nurredin Mezzni, told The Associated Press, "We do really appreciate the work being rendered by those translators, but they should take into account the financial problems the Union faces. It is not only the translators but other staffers who have similar problems."

According to Mezzni, the African Union was working with partners in the European Union and the international community to secure the rest of the payments.

Information from BBC News states that the interpreters also requested a danger allowance and improved pay conditions through a letter to Darfur's Labor Affairs Department. However, the Sudanese Labor Union said the translators salaries were the best provided to local staff.

The United Nations has accused Sudan's government and the pro-government Arab militias, known as the janjaweed, of war crimes against the region's black African population. The UN also wants to send a 22,000-member joint UN-AU peacekeeping mission to Darfur, but Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, has rejected this plan, claiming the peacekeepers would compromise Sudan's sovereignty and try to re-colonize the country.