Sudan asks for UN peace-building mission amid Unamid drawdown

Sudan’s transitional government has asked the United Nations Security Council to establish a Special Political Mission/Peace Support Operation to assist in the peace process and help Sudan to mobilise international financial assistance.

In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres dated January 27, signed by Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, and seen by Radio Dabanga, deals with political developments in Sudan and the government’s position on what might occur following the scheduled drawdown of the Unamid Darfur peacekeeping mission.

The Sudanese government “requests the United Nations to seek a Security Council mandate to establish, as soon as possible, a Chapter VI peace support operation in the form of a special political mission with a strong peacebuilding component,” he wrote in a letter seen by Radio Dabanga.

Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter stipulates that the international assistance aims to support the maintenance, monitoring, and building of peace, but not the use of force to prevent violent conflict as it is the case of Chapter VII.

Hamdok’s letter suggests that the Mission “should cover the entire territory of Sudan and its approach needs to be innovative, agile, coordinated and light.”

It says that the “capacities for good offices and mediation support to assist in the Juba peace negotiations and to help Sudan mobilise international economic assistance, including by supporting the upcoming donor conference,” should be urgently deployed.

Hamdok asks for support in the implementation of the Constitutional Declaration, implementation of peace accords in Darfur and the Two Areas, mobilisation of international economic assistance for Sudan, coordination of humanitarian assistance, and support to the constitutional making, legal and judicial reform, civil service reform and security sector reform.

Hamdok describes the state of the Sudanese economy as a “downward spiral” as a result of mismanagement and corruption by the deposed Al Bashir regime.

“The Sudanese people are confronted with soaring prices of basic items, a rising exchange rate and a series of crises triggered by the scarcity of basic commodities,” he said.