North Darfur government denies banning UNAMID’s flights

August 24, 2015 (EL FASHIR) – The governor of North Darfur, Abdel-Wahid Youssef, on Monday denied that the state government has banned flights of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID)’s planes over the skies of the state.

Speaking under the cover of anonymity, a Sudanese official on Sunday told Sudan Tribune that the government of North Darfur state has imposed an air ban on planes belonging to the UNAMID and suspended all its flights from the state’s capital, El-Fashir, pointing the mission will now require permission to fly its planes.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the government’s spokesperson, Khalid Marioud, dismissed the talk about the imposition of air ban on UNAMID’s planes as untrue, saying the mission is carrying out its work fully without restrictions.

He added that the governor of North Darfur and his government are not authorized to take a decision to ban UNAMID’s flights, pointing that the power to make such a decision is only confined to the federal government.

“The governor didn’t issue written or verbal directives or orders to ban UNAMID’s flights over the skies of the state,” the statement reads.

[or his part, Yossef said his government can’t make a decision apart from the declared policy of the Sudanese state, noting that UNAMID’s presence in Darfur was allowed by the federal government and his state has no authority to prevent it.

Several journalists in Khartoum said they had the same information from the same official. Many wondered about the reason behind the dissemination of this misleading statements.

In statements to Ashorooq TV, UNAMID spokesperson Ashraf Eissa denied the imposition of the ban saying the report was “unfounded”.

The North Darfur governor told the pro-government Sudan Media Center (SMC) that his government was aware of the visit of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) delegation to Khour Abashi IDP’s camp, noting that senior ambassadors from the foreign ministry had accompanied the delegation.

The governor pointed that his meeting with the AUPSC delegation was cancelled because the latter failed to meet the specified date and time and not for any other reason.

The Sudanese official who disseminated the false report said that the government of North Darfur took the decision to ban UNAMID’s planes after being convinced that the mission deliberately hampered the meeting of the AUPSC team with the governor.

He accused the mission of changing the team’s programme by organizing a visit to Khour Abashi IDP’s camp in South Darfur without even informing the competent authorities.

He further asserted that the hybrid mission also organized another visit to an uninhabited IDP’s camp near the headquarters of the Tanzanian peacekeepers.

(ST)