Expelled UN envoy to Sudan to be replaced by deputy
Oct 27, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The top U.N. envoy to Sudan will keep his job until his contract ends on Dec. 31 and will make a brief return to Khartoum next month despite being expelled by the government, a U.N. spokesman said Friday.
Jan Pronk left Sudan on Monday after the government gave him three days to get out for posting on his personal Web blog that the Sudanese army was mobilizing Arab militias in conflict-wracked Darfur following heavy losses in fighting with rebels in violation of U.N. resolutions.
Sudan’s military blasted Pronk’s comments, branding them “psychological warfare against the Sudanese army.” The country’s U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, said Friday the government had “terminated his mandate” because Pronk was “threatening our national interest.”
In an address to the Security Council on Friday, Pronk blamed the Sudanese government for continued violence in Darfur, saying it is violating U.N. resolutions that bar air operations and is mobilizing more troops in the region.
“The government continues to violate the DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement) and other cease-fire agreements,” Pronk said in remarks to the closed meeting that were made public.
He added that, despite signing the peace deal with one rebel faction earlier this year, the government “is still seeking a military solution.”
However, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has protested Pronk’s expulsion to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, “has made it clear that he alone can decide on the tenure of his special representatives.”
Dujarric said Pronk is expected to return to Khartoum next month to organize a temporary handover to his deputy, Taye Zerihoun, who is now in charge of the U.N. mission in Sudan.
However, Abdalhaleem cast doubt on whether the Sudanese government would allow Pronk to re-enter the country. “This issue is for Sudan’s immigration authorities to address. For us, he is no longer the secretary-general’s special envoy,” Abdalhaleem said.
A new special representative is expected to be named by Ban Ki-moon who will take over from Annan as secretary-general on Jan. 1.
The order for Pronk to leave heightened a dispute between the U.N. and the Khartoum government over peacekeeping in Darfur. Sudan has refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers to replace a poorly equipped African Union force that has been unable to halt escalating violence in the vast western region.
Violence has risen dramatically in recent weeks in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in more than three years of fighting.
Despite ordering Pronk to leave the country, Khartoum has pledged to continue to work with the U.N. to resolve the situation in Darfur.
When asked who should replace Pronk, Abdalhaleem said “we need somebody who can be patient and who ceases to inflame the emotions of people.”
Pronk, 66, served several terms in the Dutch parliament and served in the Dutch Cabinet under two prime ministers. He was appointed as U.N. special representative for Sudan in June 2004.
(AP)