UN renews UNMIS mandate request support of credible election
May 2, 2009 (UNITED NATIONS) — The UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) for another year, urging the mission to support the organization of credible election in the country next year.
Established in 2005 following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the mission tasked to support the CPA implementation including return of refugees and IDPs, demining, promote human rights in Sudan. Also, the UNMIS has 10,000 peacekeepers and a civilian component.
The Security Council adopted unanimously a resolution extending the UNMIS mandate until April 30, 2010, two months after a series of election that scheduled to be held in February. The 15 member council urged the mission to the support the first free and fair election in the country since 1989. The council also requested the mission to assist the parties with the planned national referendum in 2011, if requested.
The resolution urged the CPA signatories to fully comply with the peace deal that ended more than two decades of war in the southern Sudan. It also called on the twp partners to commit themselves to Abyei road map signed in June last year. Abyei arbitration tribunal will announce with three months.
In his latest report on Sudan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that if the CPA collapsed, a humanitarian catastrophe could ensue, and he called on the international community to remain focused on ensuring its implementation, and for Sudan to reinstate banned aid groups.
He said that the vacuum left by the ejection of the groups, following the indictment of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur, has left much of Abyei and eastern Sudan with little humanitarian, recovery or reintegration support, which could hurt peace efforts.
In an indirect reference to the expulsion of 13 aid groups following the arrest warrant against President Omer Al-Bashir, the resolution stressed the need to provide to provide humanitarian aid to the civilians throughout the country.
Further it called on donors to assist the crucial disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants, which has recently been stepped up.
The council also regretted the “persistent” intertribal clashes in southern Sudan which generate new waves of civilians’ displacement. The Council called on UMIS to strengthen its capabilities in conflict management and protection of civilians, working with the conflict-resolution methods of tribal groups.
(ST)