Congo’s Adada to head Darfur peacekeeping mission
May 8, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Congo’s Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada will head a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s devastated Darfur region, which has been resisted by the Sudanese government.
The U.N. Security Council last year adopted a resolution to deploy a “hybrid” U.N.-African Union force of more than 20,000 in Darfur, western Sudan. So far Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has agreed only to deployment of 3,000 U.N. police and military to aid the African Union force of 7,000 troops.
At least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.3 million made homeless in the Darfur conflict among African rebel groups, the Arab-dominated government and militia who back it.
Ban is also expected to appoint a European, not yet named, as his special envoy for the U.N. Mission in Sudan, known as UNMIS, which oversees 10,000 peacekeepers helping to enforce a peace pact in southern Sudan after decades of civil war.
UNMIS has been without a chief of mission since Khartoum expelled Dutchman Jan Pronk last October.
The U.N. Security Council last month extended UNMIS until Oct. 31, although the United States had wanted only a three month extension, mainly to keep pressure on Sudan to approve the larger “hybrid” AU-U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur.
(Reuters)
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the UN Secretary-General appoint Rodolphe Adada of the Republic of Congo as
Joint AU-UN Special Representative for Darfur
May 8, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the UN Secretary-General have appointed Rodolphe Adada of the Republic of Congo as Joint AU-UN Special Representative for Darfur. In accordance with the 16 November 2006 High-level Meeting in Addis Ababa on the situation in Darfur, whose conclusions were subsequently endorsed by the 30 November 2006 Summit Level meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) and the 19 December 2006 Statement of the President of the UN Security Council, the Joint AU-UN Special Representative for Darfur will head the AU-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
On behalf of the African Union Commission Chairperson and the UN Secretary-General, the Joint Special Representative will have overall authority over the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, oversee the implementation of its mandate, and be responsible for the mission’s management and functioning.
Mr. Adada has served since 1997 as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and the Francophonie of the Republic of Congo and had been advisor to President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. His service with the Government of the Republic of Congo included the posts of Minister of Education and Minister of Mining and Energy. He was also a Professor at Marien Ngouabi University.
Addis Ababa
8 May 2007