Security Council extends Unamid mandate, calls for ‘revised focus’

The UN Security Council (UNSC) has extended for the mandate of the AU-UN joint mission in Darfur for one year, and asked the mission to focus on its revised strategic priorities. In a resolution unanimously adopted, the 15-member body extended the Unamid mandate until the 30 June 2015, Sudan Tribune reported today. When established in 2007, Unamid was mainly tasked with the protection of civilians, aid workers, and convoys of humanitarian assistance, the monitoring and verifying implementation of agreements, and supporting efforts for to end the 11-year conflict. In April 2014, the Security Council voted a resolution redefining the mandate of the Unamid. The revised strategic priorities include the protection of civilians, the facilitation of the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and the safe-keeping of humanitarian personnel. “The resolution prioritises protection of civilians and humanitarian efforts in Unamid’s work and requests enhanced human rights reporting from the Mission,” Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating presidency of the council for this month, said. Grant stressed that the Council want to use this opportunity to “make any necessary changes to improve the working of Unamid.” He concluded by saying that “The resolution requests comprehensive and wide-ranging recommendations on the future mandate, configuration, composition, and an exit strategy of Unamid for next February, and expresses the Council’s clear intention to take prompt action on those recommendations”. Resolution 20148 (2014) further provides that the mandate includes “mediation between the Government of Sudan and non-signatory armed movements on the basis of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), while taking into account ongoing democratic transformation at the national level; and support to the mediation of community conflict, including through measures to address its root causes”. Unamid chief and joint mediator, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, is currently organising a consultation meeting in Addis Ababa for the Darfur rebel movements and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, allied in the Sudan Revolutionary Front, to discuss ways to achieve a comprehensive peace in the country. The meeting is co-organised with the head of AU High-Level Implementation Panel, Thabo Mbeki. (Source: Sudan Tribune) File photo: Unamid staff commemorate World Environment Day by planting trees at Unamid headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur, 5 June 2012 (Albert González Farran/Unamid)