Sudan’s cancels allocation of UNAMID camps to militia forces

June 23, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), cancelled a previous decision allocating previous UNAMID camps to Darfur militia forces.

On 13 May, al-Burhan issued a decree ordering all the governors of Darfur five states to hand over UNAMID camps to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In response the United Nations decided to stop the handover of their camps in Darfur within the ongoing preparations to quit Darfur next year, saying this decision is in contravention to the UN rules and procedures.

“The head of the Transitional Military Council, Abdal-Fatah al-Burhan, today issued the decree 202-2019 cancelling the decree No. 102 on the use of camps from which UNAMID withdraws in the different states of Darfur”.

“He further issued the decree 203-2019 allocating these camps to the state governments in Darfur to use it in healthcare, education and other social services for the benefit of the Darfur communities,” further said a statement released by the official news agency SUNA on Sunday night.

The military council stressed that these decisions are part of Sudan’s commitment to what has been agreed with the United Nations and the African Union to support the transition from peacekeeping to peace-building and reconstruction in Darfur.

On 15 June, Jean Pierre Lacroix head of UN peacekeeping department briefed the Security Council on a recent joint assessment made by a joint team from the African Union and United Nations on UNAMID.

“The Special Report (…) concluded that peacekeeping is no longer the most appropriate tool to address the situation in Darfur,” he said before to add that its conclusions “therefore point to the continuation of the UNAMID drawdown process and its exit in 2020”.

(ST)