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UN decides to downsize peacekeeping mission in Darfur
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June 30 - 2017 NEW YORK / KHARTOUM On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved a major reduction of peacekeepers in Darfur, amid pleas from Sudanese refugee associations and international activists. More than a third of the nearly 19,000 troops and police officers of the joint UN and AU peacekeeping mission will be withdrawn.
The UNSC renewed the mandate of Unamid until 30 June next year, however, restructures the mission “in two six-month phases while closely monitoring the situation on the ground”, the UN said on Thursday. Britain’s deputy ambassador Peter Wilson said: “There were still troubling events on the ground, but there was no question that the situation had changed”.
The Sudanese government, pushing for the exit of all Unamid forces for years, thanked the Council for its decision. “The resolution is a direct practical step confirming the Security Council's recognition that Darfur has turned the page of conflict, and entirely moved towards peace, reconstruction, development and construction,” a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs read on Monday.
According to Omer Ismail of the Enough Project, a Washington-based advocacy group, the withdrawal of peacekeepers “will make several key areas unsafe for humanitarian operations, likely leading to closures of programmes upon which tens of thousands of conflict-affected people rely”.
Displaced leaders in Darfur have warned for the consequences of the downsizing of the number of troops. “The UN Security Council did refer the case of Darfur to the International criminal court for a good reason.”
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Sudan army attacks Darfuris after killing of rapist
July 3 - 2017 ZALINGEI Sudanese soldiers of the military garrison in Golo, Central Darfur, raped a group of women who were drawing water from a well near the town on Thursday 29 June. People in the area came to their rescue, and beat the rapists with sticks and stones. They killed one of them, and wounded several others. “People in the area rushed to the scene and beat the rapists with sticks and stones, killing one of them, and wounding others,” the Central Darfur camps’ coordinator, El Shafi Abdallah, told Radio Dabanga. “The army troops then besieged the area, and terrorised the people with a barrage of missiles and bullets.” During the attack villagers were robbed of their belongings. Those who were able to escape sought shelter in mountain caves and valleys.
The Displaced people and Refugees Secretariat in Central Darfur has called on the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid) to provide urgent aid to the victims of army attacks in Rokoro locality. “We informed the mission of the poor humanitarian situation facing the people sheltering in mountain caves and in the valleys after attacks by government forces on Thursday,” Abdallah told this station after a visit to the mission in Zalingei.
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