UN refuses to sign agreement on UNAMID’s exit strategy: Sudan
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June 15, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government said the United
Nations has retracted from an agreement reached by the tripartite team
on an exit strategy for the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur
(UNAMID).
JPEG - 23.8 kb
A UNAMID peacekeeper during a routine patrol in Tawila, North
Darfur.(Photo UNAMID/Hamid Abdelsalam)
A tripartite committee including the Sudanese government, African
Union (AU) and UN has been set up to develop an exit strategy for the
UNAMID from Darfur and the parties were expected to sign a agreement
last May.
The head of the tripartite team from the Sudanese side, Jamal
al-Sheikh, told reporters on Monday they reached an agreement on the
report of the exit strategy but he was surprised by the refusal of the
UN representative in the team to sign it.
Al-Sheikh said the refusal came as a result of the UN headquarters
attempt to impose a specific agreement that has been rejected by the
team, noting it doesn’t have the legal or procedural right to
interfere in the work of the team during the current phase.
In a report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on 26 May, the UN chief,
Ban Ki-moon said that no agreement on the exit strategy of UNAMID has
been reached yet by the tripartite team, adding that the team’s
meetings were suspended and are supposed to resume later this year.
Ki-moon further said that UNAMID suggested during the negotiations to
withdraw gradually from West Darfur, and leave from three bases in
North and South Darfur, in areas that do not currently necessitate its
presence, noting that withdrawal from other areas would only be
possible if a ceasefire and protection of displaced are ensured.
Following a meeting of the foreign ministry’s undersecretary with
ambassadors of the UNSC permanent members in Khartoum, al-Sheikh said
that the report of the tripartite team, after it is signed, should be
submitted to the three parties, noting that New York’s intervention is
not legally, ethically and procedurally right at this juncture.
He said the team’s meetings were suspended following the UN’s refusal
to sign the report and denied that the mission of the team has been
terminated, adding the move must be decided by agreement of the three
parties.
The Sudanese diplomat further said the statements of the UN chief
regarding the failure of the team to reach an agreement as
“incorrect”, and revealed the refusal of the African Union Security
and Peace Council (AUSPC) for a recommendation to extend UNAMID’s
mandate without modification, for the next 12 months, until 30 June
2016.
For his part, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry, Ali al-Sadiq,
said the ambassadors of the UNSC permanent members admitted that
UNAMID must eventually exit and that there is no disagreement on the
exit strategy.
UNAMID deputy joint special representative Abdul Kamara was summoned
by Sudan’s foreign ministry last Thursday to inform him of the
government discomfort and disappointment of false and erroneous
information contained in Ki-moon’s report.
Also, the Sudanese deputy ambassador to the UN, Hassan Hamid Hassan,
on Wednesday accused the UN secretary-general and the UN peacekeeping
department of seeking to provide a distorted picture about the
security situation in Darfur. He criticized the assistant
secretary-general for peacekeeping operations for attributing the
recent displacement of civilians, which is caused by the tribal
clashes, to the government military campaign on rebel groups.
The hybrid mission has been deployed in Darfur since December 2007
with a mandate to stem violence against civilians in the western
Sudan’s region.
It is the world’s second largest international peacekeeping force with
an annual budget of $1.35 billion and almost 20,000 troops.
(ST)
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