"Germany is helping; we're being responsible!"

That's what it sounds like when Defense Minister Josef Jung talks about sending soldiers to Darfur to establish peace after four years of war, over 200,000 casualties and more than two million refugees. Rebels and militia are still marauding through the country, raping women and girls, and making their neighbors in Sudan feel insecure.

The defense minister is right when he says, "We don't want another Rwanda." No one can contradict that.

Mission without a mandate

"Stop the genocide in Darfur!" Everyone is demanding action.

But should the German soldiers be sent on a mission without a mandate? Some people are thinking about it: Outgoing UN Secretary General Annan, for example, recently suggested sending hybrid troops.

The African Union, which has been making efforts to maintain security in Darfur for some time now, needs international support. That means more money and more soldiers, not all of whom will necessarily be Africans.

Sudan's President Al Bashir has taken the proposal into consideration, although he'd rather not see any UN soldiers in Darfur at all. They are the aggressors, he says. Some of his ministers have gone even further and made death threats.

A battle for natural resources

What would an international force in Darfur achieve? What would German soldiers do there?

They're considered to be very professional, nonpartisan mediators. Nevertheless, a good troop needs more -- like a ceasefire, first of all. But that's where the largest problem is. The rebels are fighting on various fronts and the militias are still receiving sufficient support from Khartoum.

In the end it's about resources -- land, water and perhaps oil as well.

For this reason, President Al Bashir is afraid he'll end up alone in the desert. He may have already lost southern Sudan, which is rich in natural resources, since the people there have the option of voting for independence in a couple of years.

And what then? Maybe Darfur? Or the East, where there is also resistance against the central regime in Khartoum?

Symbolic contribution not sufficient

The United Nations is in a sticky situation. On the one hand, Al Bashir is being stubborn, but on the other hand, they can't threaten him.

The regime in Khartoum has a major advocate in China, which is a member of the UN Security Council. Beijing fosters oil in Sudan, an arrangement that isn't going to change in the future.

The situation in Darfur demonstrates that the United Nations doesn't have more to offer than a miserable solution. If lives are to be saved, then unconventional trails have to be blazed and new partnerships have to be established beyond the Security Council framework.

German soldiers have neither a clear mandate nor the political will in Sudan. Without these, they'd just be paying lip service and, for a mission like Darfur, that's simply not enough.

The UN Security Council is meeting in Geneva on Tuesday, Dec. 12, to discuss the situation in Darfur.

Meike Scholz is a reporter and Africa expert at Deutsche Welle (kjb)