African Union supports Gambari’s appointment as mediator for peace in Darfur
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July 21, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Peace and Security Council of the
African Union (AUPSC), this week expressed its support to the
appointment of the head of the hybrid peacekeeping operation (UNAMID),
Ibrahim Gambari as joint chief mediator for peace in Darfur to replace
Djibril Bassole.
Ibrahim Gambari (UNAMID)In a meeting held Addis Ababa on Tuesday 19
July the AU’s Peace and Security Council discussed the situation in
the restive region of Darfur and the signing of a peace agreement
between the government and the Liberation and Justice Movement on 4
July.
The Council also discussed who and how to replace the former Joint
Chief Mediator, Djiribil Bassolé who is appointed as foreign minister
in his country Burkina Faso. Further, it discussed and reiterated its
support for the controversial Darfur Political Process (DPP)
recommended by the head of the African Union Panel for Sudan, Thabo
Mbeki.
The UNAMID chief is expected to brief the United Nation Security
Council on 22 July on the activities of the largest peacekeeping
mission which will expire on 31 July before to renew it for another
year. Gambari who co-signed the Doha peace agreement between Sudanese
government and Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) as special
representative for the African Union and the United Nations will also
brief the 15 member body on the peace process.
The AUPSC body "welcomes the recent appointment of Prof. Ibrahim
Gambari as the Joint Chief Mediator ad interim, and looks forward to
the early formalization of this appointment," said a statement
released by the PSC of the African Union.
Gambari advocated in the past that the hybrid peacekeeping mission
should be also tasked with the peace process stressing that there is
no peace to keep but a peace to make in Darfur.
In a speech he delivered during the AUSPC meeting, Gambari said there
is a need to broaden the peace process in order to include the other
rebel groups in the peace process particularly the two factions of the
Sudan and Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur and
Minni Minnawi.
Gambari also urged the African peace body to press Khartoum to lift
the emergency law in Darfur in order to create a conducive environment
for the political process for dialogue among Darfurians that Mbeki’s
panel wants to launch in Darfur.
The AU’s Security and Peace Council reiterated its support to the
Darfur based political process and called on the UN Security Council
to back Mbeki’s plan which intends to promote dialogue among tribal
leaders, internally displaced persons and refugees and civil society
groups as well as the regional elected institutions dominated by the
members of the ruling National Congress Party.
The UN Security Council remains very divided over the DPP as it is
seen inefficient due to the lack of security and freedoms besides the
repeated violations of human rights in the restive region. The process
also does not include the rebel groups and seen as based on a
different logic as it does not associate the armed groups.
Also, while the African Union wants more pressures on the rebel groups
to join the peace process, the UN Security Council is reluctant on how
to convince them to engage peace negotiations with Khartoum. The
United States in the past showed opposition to impose sanctions on
rebel movements who are not part of the Doha peace process.
(ST)
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