UN peacekeeping chief urges Council to halt Darfur fighting

UN peacekeeping chief urged Security Council’s members to do all they can to help relieve the suffering of the people of Darfur and bring about an end to the fighting in the region. Hervé Ladsous asked SC members to support UNAMID and to apply additional pressure on the belligerent parties to reach a negotiated settlement, adding that “there is no military solution to the crisis”. The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations suggested that maintaining attention on the situation in Darfur amidst a series of newer crisis remained as important as ever. “The people of Darfur have known conflict and suffering for too long,” he said during a brief to the UN Security Council on UNAMID on Monday. Concerning security issues, Ladsous claimed that intensified conflict in Darfur due to military and inter-community standoffs is a source of concern. Clashes displaced more than 200,000 people, including 24,000 to Chad – more than last year’s total, he said. Inter-communal violence in Darfur involving well-armed militias had also caused significant suffering among the civilian population. On 3 April, an attempted armed robbery triggered clashes between militias drawn mainly from the Misseriya and Salamat tribes in Um Dukhun, Central Darfur, he said. Hostilities between the Government and the Sudan Liberation Army –Minni Minawi (SLA-MM) in East and South Darfur that began on 6 April displaced some 33,000 people to UNAMID bases in Muhajeriya and Labado, Ladsous pointed out. Sporadic fighting between the groups continued and spread eastwards, between 6 and 17 April, to Rahad El Berdi, 245 km southwest of Nyala in South Darfur and northwards to Darley, 130 km south of Zalingei, Central Darfur. He said that community sources estimate that upwards of 68 people had been killed and 60 injured in the clashes. “The situation in Darfur is every troubling,” Ladsous said. The peacekeeping chief noted that despite “mildly encouraging” developments in the peace process, a fully inclusive political settlement was yet to be reached. Ladsous further noted that in the run-up to the Donors Conference on 7-8 April, internally displaced persons had launched peaceful protests in South and Central Darfur.“They spoke of insecurity, unresolved land disputes and the predominance of armed militias, as reasons why they opposed the Doha Conference”. UNAMID, he pointed out, is working hard to implement its mandate in very challenging circumstances. On this note, Ladsous called for better cooperation on the part of the Sudanese authorities and improvements in troop and police continent equipment levels were needed to enable the mission to operate at closer to its full potential. During his address, the peacekeeping chief also noted that “movement restrictions and other obstructions imposed by the belligerent parties had continued to hamper UNAMID operations”. Earlier this month, he continued, government security forces had forcibly prevented UNAMID helicopters from departing Shangil Tobaya and Afaf Umra, respectively, after the crews had refused to transport local officials not on the flight manifest. The flights eventually took off without the officials on board after several hours of negotiations, Ladsous disclosed.Photo: Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous, briefs the Security Council on the African Union-UN mission in Darfur (UNAMID). UN Photo/Evan Schneider