Sudan pledges to facilitate Darfur force, still maintains obstacles
December 2, 2007 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has vowed to facilitate preparation for the deployment of a 26000 peacekeeping force in Darfur; but Khartoum still shows opposition to some important facilities.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, chief of the UN peacekeeping unit on November 27, told the Security Council that obstacles raised by Sudan ranging from rejection of non-African troops, failure to provide land and operational restrictions on the force meant the mission’s viability was in doubt.
In a meeting held Sunday at the foreign ministry with Rodolphe Adada the AU-UN Joint Special Representative for Darfur, Mutrif Sidiq, head of the Sudanese government technical committee for the implementation of the Hybrid Operation pledged to allocate the necessary land for UNAMIS in Geneina and Zalingei.
He also agreed to expedite the release of all communication equipments from customs before the end of the week.
UNAMID had not received allocated land in El-Geneina and Zalingei regions in Darfur. The Sudanese government also impounded UNAMID communications equipment for weeks.
The meeting was attended by a number of officials from both sides who reviewed outstanding issues related to the smooth functioning of United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as well as ways and means of addressing them.
The two parties agreed to finalize SOFA on the basis of UN/AU proposals which will be considered as a working document.
The meeting further discussed issues of use of El-Fashir Airport during night time, speeding up the process regarding the release of communication equipments as well as the issue of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
The Sudanese government reiterated it rejection to allow night flights of the UNAMID planes during the night.
“Regarding the operating of El-Fashir Airport at night, Sudan agreed that the airport will be open for medical evacuation only until its capabilities are upgraded.” Said a press statement issued by the Joint Mission.
The two sides agreed to undertake a joint tour of the three Darfur States to insure the smooth implementation of the Hybrid operation on the ground and to hold regular meetings in the future.
“The meeting was held in a good spirit.” The statement said . However, it was muted in the issue of the foreign troops.
Last week the head of UN peacekeeping department stressed that “there is no alternative for the inclusion of non-African units”. He said that three units have been singled out by Sudanese officials to be excluded from the force, an infantry battalion from Thailand, a Special Forces unit from Nepal and an engineering unit from the Nordic countries.
Also Jean-Marie Guehenno warned Khartoum from reneging on its agreement that the peacekeeping force would wear the blue UN helmets with an AU patch.
“We have been making preparations for peacekeeping troops to wear blue berets. The immunities associated with wearing the blue helmets and the UN insignia which are simply non-negotiable to troop contributing countries” he said.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday he was disappointed about obstacles by Sudanese government hindering the implementation of the Hybrid Operation. He hoped to speak about the matter with the Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir.
The peacekeepers are supposed to take over from a hard-pressed existing AU force in Darfur from January and bring security to its people after more than 4 1/2 years of fighting between rebels and government forces.
The force hopes to offer better protection to more than 4 million Darfuris affected by the revolt in Darfur by mostly non-Arab rebels in 2003. International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in almost five years.
(ST)