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THE
DANGERS TO THE UN FORCES IN DARFUR ARE AT THEIR HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE THE
1990s, SAYS UN OFFICIAL: 09/01/08
(MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED
NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 09
January 2007 -- The threats
to UN peacekeepers in Darfur are at their peak, said a leading UN official who
called the situation “probably the greatest risk” to
UN forces since the 1990s. The UN troops in
the war-torn area of Sudan are lacking in personnel, supplies, and equipment.
At the
same time, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno
said the mission, known as UNAMID, would repel “with necessary force” other
actions similar to Monday night’s attack by a Sudanese armed forces unit on a
clearly marked UN supply convoy in West Darfur.
“Today
we have the convergence of three factors which put UNAMID at great risk,
probably the greatest risk since the 1990s,” he said after briefing the
Council, citing the ongoing war in Darfur, the lack of a clear signal from the
parties that they want a robust mission and the mission’s own “tragic”
lack of essential resources.
Under-manned
UN missions in the 1990s were unable to prevent the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and
the massacre of Bosnian Moslems in Srebrenica in 1995. Mr. Guéhenno stressed
that UNAMID was a peacekeeping force not designed to function in a war zone.
UNAMID,
a hybrid UN-African Union (AU) force which took over from a purely AU mission
last week in a bid to stop the fighting between Government and rebel forces that
has killed more than 200,000 people and uprooted 2.2 million others since 2003,
only has 9,000 troops out of its mandated strength of 26,000.
It also
lacks essential logistics and equipment such as helicopters and
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly called on Member States to speed up
delivery of vital units and assets.
It was a
call repeated by Mr. Guéhenno today when he presented Mr. Ban’s latest report.
“I appeal to this Council and to all the international community to help on
these and all other remaining problems, including the necessary specialized
capabilities and equipment and the political process.
“This
is our collective responsibility. Without decisive progress on each of these
three issues we will indeed face dire consequences for the international efforts
to help the Sudanese bring peace and stability to Darfur.”
While
recognizing the “modest momentum” created by the transfer of authority from
the AU, he declared: “At the same time we must move forward with a realistic
understanding of the situation we face. War with cross-border dimensions is
ongoing. Five months after the adoption of Resolution 1769 (setting up UNAMID),
we do not yet have guarantee or agreements from the Government on the basic
technical issues.
“And
finally, the mission itself will not have the personnel or assets in place to
implement its mandate for many months even in the best case scenario,” he
added, noting that no offers for essential transportation and aviation assets
had been made, including 24 helicopters.
“When
you combine those factors you see that you have the possibility of failure
unless the political situation is rectified, unless the war situation is ended
and a strategic choice is made by all the parties that is not by military action
that peace will be brought to Darfur but by negotiation, and unless there is a
decisive reinforcement of the mission,” he told journalists after the Council
session.
Referring
to Monday night’s attack with light weapons and rocket propelled grenades on
the UNAMID supply convoy of over 20 clearly marked, slow moving white vehicles,
Mr. Guéhenno said the Government and rebels had been informed of its movements
in advance. The Sudanese area commander phoned after the 10 to 12-minute attack
and confirmed it was a Sudanese armed forces unit which had fired.
“The
force used utmost restraint in this particular case but we’ve made very clear
that this posture may change,” he later told journalists. “This is very
dangerous and of course other actions would be repelled with necessary force,”
he added, noting that if UNAMID had had night-flying helicopters it would have
been in a position to deter the attack “or probably the attack would not have
happened.”
He said
the Sudanese Ambassador to the UN had told him the Government would launch an
investigation into the incident and the UN would participate. “The viability
of the mission depends on ensuring that this never happens again,” he
stressed.
Ambassador
Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad later denied Sudanese Government forces were
involved.
“It’s
very regrettable that they develop this habit of continuing their accusations
that Sudan is not helping them whereas the actual facts on the ground prove in
no uncertain terms that Sudan is cooperating on all issues,” he told
reporters.
“Unfortunately
they started this habit of only accusing Sudan, and the peak and the climax of
that was their accusation that Sudan Government forces yesterday attacked a
UNAMID convoy. I can assure you that Sudan Government forces did not at all do
that. We have no relationship whatsoever with that attack. It happened in an
area infested with rebel activities.”
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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