Sudan summons UNAMID official over “misleading” remarks
June 11, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan summoned the deputy head of the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to express displeasure with misleading information about violence in Darfur reported to the Security Council.
” There is also significant concern about reports of indiscriminate attacks against civilians, as well as other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” added Mulet.
In return, the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, Hassan Hamid Hassan accused the UN secretary-general assistant of seeking to provide a distorted picture about the security situation in Darfur and to attribute the displacement of civilians, which is caused by the tribal clashes, to the military campaign on rebel groups.
In Khartoum, the Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadiq on Thursday told reporters that the UNAMID deputy joint special representative Abdul Kamara was summoned to inform him of the “government of discomfort and disappointment of false and erroneous information contained in (Mulet’t) statements”.
Sadiq said the foreign ministry under-secretary Abdel-Gani al-Naeim told Kamara that such unfounded data do not help in the continuation of cooperation between Sudan and the UNAMID.
Al-Naeim further deputy joint special representative that the tripartite mechanism between the African Union, United Nations and Sudan has reached an agreement about the gradual withdrawal of UNAMID from Darfur based on the recommendation, observations and the follow-up by the committee itself, said the spokesperson.
“But what it is stated in the statements of the UN secretary-general and his assistant for peacekeeping operations, Edmond Mulet, fully undermines what has been agreed upon by the parties of the tripartite mechanism,” al-Sadiq concluded.
The peacekeeping official told the Security Council that the UNAMID exit strategy is based on a gradual and phased withdrawal from West Darfur where there is no fighting between the government and rebel groups or tribal clashes since two years .
He added that three team sites will be closed in North and South Darfur states in accordance with the findings of a military capability study recently conducted in the western Sudan region.
The foreign ministry spokesperson said that al-Naeim regretted that the UNAMID chief Abiodun Oluremi Bashua of Nigeria was present and “a witness of the statements of lies and allegations” made by UN secretary-general assistant for peacekeeping operations.
He further requested his deputy to convoy the position of the Sudanese government to the United Nations and to point Sudan’s firm position on the need for UNAMID exist from the country through un agreement between the three parties.
GHANDOUR CONSULTS RUSSIAN AND CHINESE ENVOYS
In a related development, the newly appointed Sudanese foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour held separate meetings with the Chinese and Russian ambassadors to discuss the matter with them and to request the support of their respective governments for Sudan’s position on the UNAMID’s exit strategy.
Diplomatic sources in the Sudanese capital say Khartoum believes that the United States seeks to obstruct the implementation of the UNAMID’s exit strategy which is seen by the Sudanese as a decisive step in the normalization process in Darfur.
The Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations Hassan Hamid Hassan told the UN Security Council that his government is sticking to the exit strategy in order to move forward with the pacification process in the region after a 12-year insurgency that affected nearly 3,5 millions of civilians.
He also said the UNAMID withdrawal will help to make it clear for residents of the IDPs camps that they “would not stay forever and they have to return to their areas”.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the visit of Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki, Ghandour said the unhindered elections in all the constituencies of Darfur region strengthens the government’s desire for the withdrawal of “UNAMID”.
The minister stressed that the extension of UNAMID mandate is not the right of the United Nations alone but a joint right including the African Union and “above all the acceptance of the government of Sudan, as a sovereign member of the United Nations”.
He further described Mulet’s statements as misleading statement containing many abuses and misinformation, in an attempt to justify the continuation of in Darfur region.
(ST)