Africa Action: One Year Into Peacekeeping Mandate, Still No Security for Darfur
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2008
11:00 AM
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CONTACT: Africa Action
Michael Swigert (202) 546-7961 |
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One Year Into Peacekeeping Mandate,
Still No Security for Darfur
Africa Action Urges More International Support for UNAMID Protection Force
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WASHINGTON - July 30 - On July 31, the one-year mandate for the United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur known as UNAMID is set to expire. The UN Security Council has waited until the eleventh hour to reauthorize this critical force due to controversy over the potential indictment of Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court. Africa Action urges the international community not to allow unwarranted concern that the pursuit of justice impedes a peace process distract from the urgent need to honor existing international commitments to provide desperately needed security for the people of Darfur.
This week, the Darfur Consortium, a grouping of local and international civil society groups, released a report assessing UNAMID’s progress since taking over from a predecessor African Union force on January 1, 2008. The verdict was bleak. According to the report, UNAMID “is in danger of becoming the world’s latest broken promise.” So far in 2008, 190,000 civilians have been displaced in Darfur. Humanitarian organizations have become targets of violence in an increasing climate of lawlessness, preventing them from assisting the nearly 2.5 million displaced people in the region. On July 8, seven UNAMID peacekeepers were killed and 22 wounded in an attack by heavily armed militia in government-controlled territory.
“Expectations for this peacekeeping operation were high among the people of Darfur, but its performance is dashing their hopes,” said Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director of Africa Action. “It is totally unacceptable that the international community continue to hang UNAMID out to dry. This protection force can’t resolve Darfur’s crisis on its own, but until it is empowered to fulfill its mandate by more robust international support, the international community is complicit in the ongoing human devastation it has promised for years to stop.”
To date, just fewer than 9,500 of the 26,000 troops and personnel authorized for UNAMID have been deployed. Lacking helicopters, trucks and other vital equipment, peacekeepers and police have been unable to respond effectively to threats or attacks on civilians. While rebels, bandits and militia all contribute to Darfur’s violence and insecurity, the government of Sudan continues to obstruct UNAMID’s full deployment and restrain its operations.
“Is the world really content to condemn this force to failure?” said Michael Swigert, Africa Action’s Associate Director for Policy and Communications. “UNAMID’s neglect cheapens the meaningfulness of all UN Security Council Resolutions and threatens the success of future peacekeeping operations. The international community must coordinate its response to the crisis in Darfur and Sudan’s other conflicts through the Security Council, other multilateral venues and the bilateral relations of individual governments.”
For further resources on Africa Action’s campaign to end genocide in Darfur and promote sustainable peace for Sudan, please visit http://www.africaaction.org.
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