Sudan Wants UN Peacekeepers To Leave Darfur

Sudan has called for UN and African Union (AU) peacekeepers to withdraw from Darfur. The country’s UN ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, rejected a UN report criticizing conditions in Darfur.

Abdalmahmoud said the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon’s report, which painted a bleak picture of relations between the UN-AU force, UNAMID, and the Sudanese government, was missing important information. He said:

One big fact should be the focus of the report that the war is over.

Defenceweb reported the Sudanese UN ambassador saying:

With peace in sight, the UN should, in coordination with the African Union and Sudanese government, plan for an exit strategy.

A Reuters report said the Sudanese government harassed peacekeepers and limited their movements. Ban Ki-Moon said in his report to the UN:

The repeated incidents of government officials preventing access to UNAMID patrols are a direct violation of the Status of Forces Agreement with the government of the Sudan and a serious impediment to the mission's capacity to implement its mandate.

The UN says shots have been fired at UNAMID forces and Sudanese army helicopters have flown low over them ”in a threatening manner.” The Defenceweb report added that UNAMID was struggling to protect civilians in Darfur, adding that the region was also plagued by rampant banditry and kidnappings of aid workers, which had caused a drop in aid to the region. According to the Secretary-General’s report, government forces continue to clash with armed rebel groups, as well as with troops of Sudan’s western neighbour, Chad. The report says UN-AU mediator Djibril Bassole's attempts:

To resume peace negotiations between the parties (in Darfur) were not successful.

Sudan is also facing elections in April 2010, which Ban Ki-Moon says will be difficult to hold in a free and fair manner. He also expressed doubts that people in Darfur would be able to participate in a meaningful way.