African officials tour Darfur for good cooperation with peacekeepers

June 6, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — During a recent month-long tour of Darfur, two African Union officials have called for peaceful co-existence and urged the different parties to cooperate with African Union peacekeepers in order to achieve peace in the region.

Two senior AMIS officials, Deputy Head of Mission, Ambassador Hassan Gibril Alieu and the Head of the Darfur Integrated Taskforce, Ambassador Mahmoud Kane have emphasised the need to restore confidence, re-establish an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the African Mission in the Sudan, the peoples of Darfur and everyone living in the Darfur region.

The Deputy Head of Mission addressed these issues during a recent one-month visit, which took him to Ummbarru, Graida, Nyala, Sortony and Haskanita. He said he had come to meet and reason with the people, in a bid to seek lasting and mutually satisfactory solutions to all issues between them and the AU peacekeeping mission.

While the Head of the Darfur Integrated Taskforce, Ambassador Mahmoud Kane visited Labado, Ummbarru, Graida, Sortony and Muhajeria, where he met with the local population, tribal leaders and representatives of various political Movements.

In Ummbarru, the AMIS officials emphasised the need for peacekeeping forces to move around freely and to have unfettered access to water points and the population. The Omda of Ummbarru assured AMIS that there were no restrictions on the movement of its forces, adding that both AMIS and SLA-Minni Minawi were in Ummbarru to protect the local population.

The Omda of Labado, on his part, described AMIS forces as “hardworking” and thanked them for their protection. The Omda regretted recent incidents between AMIS peacekeepers, the local population and some Movements in the region, which resulted in fatalities on both sides, and assured AMIS and the international community that Labado is now safe for AMIS patrols and for humanitarian workers to deliver urgently needed assistance.

In Muhajeria, the AMIS Deputy Head of Mission listened to the local SLA commander, Jumma Hagar and his legal adviser, Khalid Kaka who described as “criminal” the actions of some AU peacekeepers, and threatened litigation against them. After open dialogue between Ambassador Alieu and the SLA officials, all parties agreed that a joint committee will soon be deployed in Darfur to resolve these issues and thus there was no need for any litigation.

Since the signing of Darfur Peace Agreement, the AU troops have very bad relations with the troops of the former rebel SLA-Minni Minawi who signed the DPA. This year, the former rebels killed two AU soldiers in Graida in March 2007 while the AU killed one SLA-Minawi soldier in Um-Zaifa in South Darfur during clashes at the end of last May.

(ST)