UN to beef-up troop presence at “hotspots” on Sudan’s North-South borders

October 15, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The United Nations Missions in Sudan (UNMIS) will move more troops to “hotspots” at the North-South borders within weeks as the country heads towards a crucial vote that could create the world’s newest state, a senior United Nations official said today.

The move comes at the heels of a last week’s visit by the UN Security Council (UNSC) delegation to Sudan during which South Sudan president Salva Kiir asked for creation of buffer zones on the North-South borders for fear of possible eruption of violence as tensions continue to grow between both sides.

Council diplomats at the time promised him that this request would be considered though later acknowledged that it would not be feasible to have a deployment along the vast 1,250 mile (2,000 kilometer) borders due to lack of manpower.

“We will increase our presence but only in some hotspots,” UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters after a UNSC meeting on Sudan.

U.S. ambassador at the Susan Rice said that UNSC members had been “skeptical” that a force along the entire border could be organized.

“Most council members are skeptical, to say the least, of the feasibility of a force that could line the entirety of the border,” Rice told reporters. “Troops don’t exist, it couldn’t be constituted quickly enough.”

“But there is serious discussion of alternative models that might focus on those areas along the border that are most vulnerable or at high risk of violence, and where civilians may be most at risk,” she added.

UNMIS has about 10,600 troops and police in Sudan monitoring a 2005 peace accord which ended two decades of civil war between the north and south. Some two million people died in the conflict.

The South Sudan referendum is required by a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 21-year civil war between Sudan’s predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the largely Christian-animist south.

Preparations for the Jan. 9 vote have proceeded haltingly amid political and logistical obstacles, and the southerners have accused the northerners of stalling, warning of violence if the referendum is delayed.

Another vote in the border region of Abyei is likely to be postponed as the North and South failed to resolve their disagreement over the composition of Abyei’s referendum’s electoral commission, eligibility of voters and demarcating the borders. Officials from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said today that the delay is all but certain angering their former foes at the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM).

On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama said that Sudan is one of his “highest priorities”.

“I’ve got Hillary Clinton, my U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Special Envoy General Scott Gration, all working together. This is one of our highest priorities,” Obama said in a televised meeting with young American voters, who had indicated through computer messages that the situation in the war-torn African country was one of the issues about which they were most concerned.

“This is a dangerous area. The last time there was a war between north and south, 2 million people were killed. And so right now what we’re trying to do is organize a referendum where the south in a peaceful, legal fashion could decide to break off and form their own nation separate from what is currently all of Sudan. We’ve only got about 90 days to get this done,” he added.

“But it’s something that we all have to pay attention to, because if you have an outbreak of war between the north and south in Sudan, not only could that erupt in more violence that could lead to millions of deaths, but solving the problem in Darfur becomes that much more difficult, because Khartoum, the seat of government for northern Sudan, could end up feeling more threatened and not being willing to deal with some of the continuing violence that exists in western Sudan and Darfur,”.

A senior US official said earlier that there are “additional measures” that could be applied if the referendum is delayed.

“I think it is fair to say that neither the international community, neither any individual member state is without some leverage,” said the official to Agence France Presse (AFP) speaking on condition of anonymity.

Today the UNSC voted to renew the mandate of the mandate of the Panel of Experts that monitors the implementation of sanctions imposed on Sudan and arms embargo. However, China which holds veto power abstained from voting.

China is the major buyer of Sudanese oil and has other key commercial interests.

“China has serious concerns about the annual report submitted by the panel of experts on the Sudan sanctions committee and believes that there is much room for improvement in the work of the panel,” a Chinese official told the Security Council, to justify the abstention.

“We urge the panel of experts to conduct their work under the principles of objectivity and responsibility,” the official added, without giving any details.

Rice said the new resolution includes measures that tighten enforcement of the arms embargo, “including language to make clear the scope of the current embargo and clarify obligations of the government of Sudan and other member states under the sanctions regime.”

She added: “Although the panel has faced setbacks in Sudan and restrictions on mobility, their presence and reporting reaffirms the Council’s commitment to the safety and protection of the people of Darfur.”

(ST)