UNAMID camp in South Darfur looted and building damaged

December 29, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Civilians looted assets at the former headquarters of Darfur peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Nyala during three days without any measure from South Darfur authorities to stop the looting and vandalism.

Reports from the area on Sunday said that hundreds of individuals continued the looting of assets inside the site which was recently handed over to the Sudanese government.

According to Darfur 24 journalists who visited the Super Camp, everything in the buildings was dismantled, even barbed wire, before to be transported by vehicles to Nyala, which is about 10 kilometres from the site.

UNAMID on Sunday denounced the looting of assets inside its former Sector South Headquarters, adding that the camp has been vandalized and damaged and the situation continued on 29 December.

“UNAMID condemns the acts of looting and vandalism in the strongest possible terms as they constitute a blatant disregard of the intended purpose of those assets,” said the statement.

Within a plan to withdraw peacekeepers from the Darfur, the UNAMID handed over the Super Camp to the Sudanese government on 19 November. The hybrid mission said the assets given to the authorities worth $99.4 million.

UNAMID buildings and equipment, according to a deal between the government and the UN, will be exclusively for civilian purposes.

Sudanese authorities did not intervene to stop the looting.

The ruling coalition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) in Nyala held a press conference on Sunday evening blaming the military governor for the incidents, saying he bears the responsibility for the looting and vandalism of the site.

“The governor and his security committee bear all consequences of what happened due to their deliberate negligence, and their failure to respond to the FFC advice to hand over the site to the university (of Nyala) and enhance security measures to protect the site,” said Mahmoud Mansour, an FFC representative in Nyala.

The joint mission called on the government to take appropriate and immediate action to prevent further looting and vandalism and to investigate the incidents.

The Sudanese authorities did not issue a statement on the looting.

In May 2019, the UNAMID site in El Geneina of West Darfur state had been looted on the day it was due to be handed over to the Sudanese authorities.

(ST)