UNAMID’s Adada resigned to protest against six month renewal

September 5, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — The former head of the Joint African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) resigned from his post after he had been renewed for six months instead of one year, Sudan Tribune had learnt.

Rodolphe Adada, who was also the Joint AU-UN Special Representative, stepped down from his duties as UNAMID chief on August 31. UN Secretary General accepted his resignation and wished him continued success in his “future role with the Government of the Congo.”

Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir disclosed last Thursday that Adada had quitted his job to protest UN refusal to renew his contract. “Adada resigned embodying the dignity of African man,” he said.

“Adada resigned after the UN renewed him for six months only instead of one year as it is the rule and he preferred to quit his post because he felt it as disapproval of his two year action in Darfur,” a UN official told Sudan Tribune under condition of anonymity from New York.

He hinted that officials at the UN were not satisfied from his performances and his last April report irritated them.

The former foreign minister of the Republic of Congo stirred anger in the UN Security Council last April when he had said that the situation in Darfur has evolved from its heights during the years 2003-2004, when tens of thousands of people had been killed, to a “low-intensity conflict.”

Adada also suggested that the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir last month has complicated prospects for a political process.

Adada’s report on Darfur was viewed as “too rosy” primarily by Western diplomats, according to UN officials who attended the closed session on April 27.

The US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice in a closed door meeting at the time questioned the “low intensity conflict” labeling by Adada and suggested that he was contradicting his boss Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s reports. UK and French delegates echoed the same view and criticized his allusion to a UNSC resolution suspending Bashir’s indictment.

Reacting to Adada resignation the AU Executive Council expressed “concern at the way the decision of renewing Mr. Adada’s contract was handled by the UN Secretariat,” said a statement issued in Tripoli on August 31 but obtained by Sudan Tribune today.

The African Union urged “the UN Secretariat to ensure that all decisions relating to the senior management of UNAMID are taken after due consultations with the AU Commission and to avoid re-occurrence of such situations.”

The UN move against the unique Congo national to hold a high ranking position in the international organization, was seen by the African Union as violation of the principle of joint responsibility with regard to the management of the UNAMID.

The AU Executive Council also reaffirms “the shared responsibility of the AU and the United Nations in ensuring the strategic leadership to UNAMID and encourages the Commission to fully play its role in this regard.”

(ST)