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WORLD NEWS Thursday 24 december 2020

U.N. to halt joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping in Darfur by year's end

By SAMY MAGDY month, Jeremiah Mamab-
CAIRO (AP) — U.N. Security olo, the joint U.N.-African
Council members decided Union envoy for Darfur,
to end the joint U.N.-African cautioned that mistrust still
Union peacekeeping force runs deep in the troubled
in Sudan's western Darfur region.
region when the mission's He said that although the
mandate runs out on Dec. major fighting in Darfur has
31, after pressure from the stopped, sporadic inter-
country's transitional gov- communal clashes in the
ernment, Russia and Afri- region have increased this
can nations. year.
The council voted unani- The Darfur conflict began
mously late Tuesday not in 2003 when ethnic Afri-
to extend the mandate of cans rebelled, accusing
the joint mission, known as the Arab-dominated gov-
UNAMID. In June, the Se- ernment in Khartoum of
curity Council unanimously discrimination. The govern-
approved replacing it with ment has been accused
a much smaller and solely of retaliating by arming
political mission, which will local nomadic Arab tribes
be known as United Na- and unleashing the militias
tions Integrated Transition known as janjaweed on ci-
Assistance Mission in Su- In this July 19, 2014 file photo, a member of the joint U.N. African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), vilians — a charge it denies.
dan, or UNITAMS. right, escorts three freed humanitarian workers out of a U.N. helicopter as they landed in El Fasher, In recent years, as the re-
The UNAMID force, estab- North Darfur, Sudan. sult of a government's mili-
lished in 2007, was the first Associated Press tary campaign, the insur-
joint U.N.-AU peacekeep- gency has been reduced
ing operation. It now has could still derail." genocide over the con- in Darfur. The government to a rebel Sudan Liberation
well over 6,000 military and Sudan is on a fragile path flict in Darfur. The country's has already started to de- Army faction headed by
police personnel and more to democracy after a pop- transitional authorities ear- ploy a 12,000-strong Civil- Abdul Wahid Elnur in Jebel
than 1,500 civilian staffers. ular uprising led the military lier this year said wanted ian Protection Force to the Marra.
The Sudanese government to overthrow autocratic individuals would face jus- region as part of a peace The decision by the Security
has been pressing for UNA- President Omar al-Bashir tice before the ICC, with- deal it struck with the Su- Council came as hundreds
MID to expire at year's end, in April 2019, after nearly out mentioning al-Bashir by dan Revolutionary Front, a of protesters in Darfur, most-
a request that obtained the three decades of rule. name. coalition of several armed ly displaced children and
backing of Russia, Niger, Since then, the country has The Security Council also groups. women, have protested for
South African, Tunisia and been led by a joint military- called on U.N. Secretary- The Security Council called over two weeks against the
St. Vincent and the Grena- civilian government, which General Antonio Guterres on the transitional govern- end of UNAMID.
dines in a council meeting has been struggling to end to complete the withdrawal ment to work to "build con- The ICC's prosecutor Fatou
earlier this month. Sudan's decades-long civil of UNAMID by June 30 next fidence of local communi- Bensouda called earlier this
Several Western nations wars and overcome the year, and to quickly ensure ties in the ability of the rule month for Sudan to match
have urged more time be- country's dire economic a "phased, sequenced and of law institutions to deliver its commitment to justice in
fore UNAMID's exit, with conditions. efficient" transition to UNI- justice, ensure account- Darfur with action, starting
Germany's ambassador to The International Crimi- TAMS. ability and provide legal with unimpeded access for
the U.N., Christoph Heus- nal Court has charged It urged Sudan's govern- protection to vulnerable the tribunal's investigators
gen, warning that Sudan al-Bashir, who's been im- ment to "fully and swiftly" communities." to witnesses, crime scenes
is at "a critical juncture" prisoned in Sudan since his implement its plan to pro- In an interview with The As- and other evidence in the
and "the transition process ouster, with war crimes and vide protection to civilians sociated Press earlier this region.q