KHARTOUM: Authorities in Sudan are stepping up efforts to force the UN-African Union mission in Darfur to leave, threatening the supply of vital humanitarian aid deliveries.
UNAMID deployed to Darfur in 2007, its nearly 16,000 peacekeepers mandated to protect civilians and secure humanitarian assistance across an area the size of France.
The arid western region of Sudan has been wracked by violence since the start of a rebel uprising in 2003, with more than 300,000 dead and the government accused of war crimes in its fight against the insurgents.
Sudan's government "has never tried to hide its hostility to the presence of foreign troops on its territory," said International Crisis Group analyst Jerome Tubiana.
But UNAMID's attempts to investigate a report that Sudanese troops raped 200 women and girls in the village of Tabit seem to have pushed authorities over the edge, and rhetoric against the peacekeepers has ramped up.
And with the UN and AU hardly rushing to the mission's defence, "there is no reason for Khartoum not to push the challenge further, even going so far as to envisage the expulsion of UNAMID," Tubiana said.
The mission was already facing problems after a UN report in October criticised it for under-reporting crimes in Darfur.
Pressure has grown in recent weeks, with President Omar al-Bashir calling UNAMID a "burden" and the foreign ministry accusing its personnel of committing abuses, including rapes, and of backing rebels.
The Sudanese government has repeatedly denied the rape allegations, and stressed that its desire for the mission's end predates the controversy.
It made a formal request to the UN Security Council on November 11 for UNAMID to start to form an exit strategy, but foreign ministry spokesman Yousif al-Kordofani said the issue had been raised months ago and the government was "very dissatisfied" with the mission's work.
Comments
Comments are closed.