Sudan reportedly forces British general to quit Darfur mission

May 31, 2008 (LONDON) — Sudanese government forced a British high ranking officer working with the UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur to leave the country six months after his appointment, the Independent reported today.

The UNAMID chief of staff, Brigadier Patrick Davidson-Houston, the most senior non-African official in the joint UN and African Union mission left Darfur just six months into his one year contrat.

The Sudanese government resisted the appointment of the British general in Darfur and requested the UN to reconsider his contract.

David-Houston arrived in Sudan in November 2007.

The Sudanese government attempted for the first time to throw him out in January 2008. But the direct intervention of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon allowed him to stay up to the end of May.

However a Sudanese official, Rabie Abdel Atti denied that Khartoum has any relations with Davidson-Houston’s removal. “Unamid appointments are beyond the jurisdiction of the government.” He told the Independent.

(ST)