Sudan to monitor travel of UNAMID peacekeepers

July 31, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Tension has risen dramatically between the Sudanese authorities and the UN-AU Hybrid Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) over recent clashes in Darfur IDP camps between refugees reportedly opposed to Darfur peace talks and others supporting them.

A Sudanese official told Reuters yesterday that the government would monitor travels by UNAMID’s peacekeepers and accused the mission of sheltering people responsible for violence in the camps.

The development comes only one day after the UN Security Council extended the mission’s mandate until July 2011 and instructed it to use full capacity to protect civilians in Darfur.

In a report published by Reuters yesterday, senior information ministry official, Rabie Abdelati, accused UNAMID of failing to halt the violence in the camps and harboring instigators of the fighting, and said the force must in future inform the government of all travel plans.

“UNAMID has not done its job at all — there was shooting, burning, people died and all they did was watch,” Abdelati told Reuters

Abdelati told Reuters that “the governor of South Darfur told UNAMID they should either do their job [in Kalma refugee camp] or get out and let the government take over,”

According to Abdelati, “UNAMID staff will have their bags searched at the airport and they will have to inform the government before moving on roads even within South Darfur’s capital Nyala.”

“UNAMID should adhere to all the normal procedures of the country and respect its sovereignty,” he said.

“All movement should be in clear coordination with us and no activities should happen without the government’s knowledge.” He added.

He also accused UNAMID of sheltering people he accused of stirring up trouble in one camp.

“The governor is demanding that these five criminals be handed over within … 48 hours,” he said.

South Darfur governor was also quoted by local newspaper in Khartoum yesterday as threatening to take the wanted men “by force if UNAMID does not hand them over.”

For its part, UNAMID declined to comment. The mission’s media official, Kamal Saiki, told Sudan Tribune yesterday that he would not make comments on basis of media reports, adding that the mission did not receive an official complaint from the government.

Saiki however said that five people came on their “own will” to UNAMID’s base in Kalma camp but he did not indicate whether these men are the ones that the government referred to. He said it was UNAMID’s duty to protect people in Darfur.

On Friday, Reuters quoted unnamed Western diplomats at the world body as saying that the force should put those goals ahead of reconstruction projects or a direct role in attempts to negotiate a political settlement, which they said UNAMID had been straying into and which Sudan’s government favoured.

Many observers, aid groups and rebels have stepped their criticism of UNAMID saying it is not performing efficiently to fulfil its mandate which some have called as “weak”.

Aid group Oxfam agreed with the Security Council that UNAMID should focus on security and stay out of reconstruction.

“Mixing the work of blue helmets (peacekeepers) with aid groups will confuse Darfuris,” El Fateh Osman, Oxfam’s country director in Sudan, said in a statement.

(ST)