Government allows UN to assess proposed Darfur mission

A joint United Nations-African Union assessment team will head to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region to determine how to strengthen the current AU mission in Sudan (AMIS) and to lay the groundwork for a possible transition to a UN peacekeeping force, a UN diplomat said. UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi concluded their talks on the strengthening of the AU and UN peacekeeping forces on Thursday evening, following days of wide-ranging consultations with Sudanese senior government officials. "We agreed that in the coming days the United Nations and the African Union will send a joint assessment mission to Sudan," Brahimi told reporters in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. "It will then proceed to Darfur to assess the additional needs of AMIS, which must be immediately strengthened, since it will have the initial responsibility of facilitating the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement. The Sudanese government and the main Darfur rebel group, Minni Minnawi’s faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, signed the agreement on 5 May. Two other rebel factions refused to sign, however, saying it did not meet their basic demands, and the security situation on the ground remains volatile. On 16 May, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that called for an assessment team to be deployed to Darfur within a week, but the Sudanese government was reluctant, initially, to grant access to the team. On Wednesday, Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir, the speaker of the National Assembly, told reporters he rejected the deployment of an international force in Darfur under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the use of force. Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol, however, stated that the government would hold further consultations with the UN and the AU regarding the mandate and size of a possible UN force in Darfur. The intention of the UN was to help the Sudanese government and the people of Darfur successfully implement the agreement by using all the resources at its disposal, Brahimi stressed. This would mean adding, as an extension of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in South Sudan, a multidimensional presence in Darfur, including humanitarian assistance, human rights observers and support for voluntary returns and longer-term recovery, as well as security, he said. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, told reporters in New York that the agreement was an important step towards an eventual transition to a UN force in Darfur. The timeframe for its deployment to a large extent depended on member states’ willingness to commit troops and logistical support. "What will shorten the timeframe for deployment of the force would be how quickly member states which have the capabilities will be willing to share them with us," he said. Meanwhile, in his latest report on Darfur to the Security Council - made public on Thursday - Kofi Annan said civilians continued to suffer the consequences of persistent violence and insecurity, with new displacement of populations and high levels of sexual and gender-based violence. "As the conflict has become increasingly erratic and fragmented, civilians have become more exposed to attacks and abuse, and the population’s need for protection more acute," the report said. Annan said that despite the peace deliberations, "all parties continued to engage in totally unacceptable levels of violence and despicable attacks against civilians in breach of humanitarian law and earlier ceasefire commitments." He said a firsthand technical assessment of the situation on the ground was "urgently required".