‘Burkina Faso withdraws from Unamid’: Foreign Affairs

A Burkina Faso State Minister confirmed that her country will withdraw its peacekeepers from the hybrid African Union-UN Mission in Darfur, in compliance with the policy of Sudan in this regard.

Obeidalla Mohamed Obeidalla, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, informed the Sudanese press after a meeting with Burkina Faso Deputy State Minister of Regional Cooperation, Rita Solange Agneketom Bogore, on Wednesday.

Bogore chaired the delegation of her country in the third session of the joint ministerial committee which concluded its meetings in Khartoum that day. Obeidalla appreciated briefed her on the current developments in the Sudanese political arena, including the peace negotiations, the National Dialogue and the planning of the strategy exit of Unamid out of Sudan.

In turn the deputy praised the level of the bilateral relations between her country and Sudan and said that Burkina Faso will establish its embassy in Khartoum shortly.

Burkina Faso already announced its withdrawal from the peacekeeping mission in May this year, following a similar announcement by South Africa.

The mission consist of up to 15,845 military personnel, 1,583 police personnel and 13 formed police units of up to 140 personnel each, according to the UN Security Council during the extension of the mission's mandate in June.

Relations between Sudan and the UN became tense after Khartoum called for the withdrawal of the 17,000-strong Unamid peacekeeping mission from the country, following a mass rape in Tabit in North Darfur by army troops in October 2014. “It is time to end the mission of Unamid,” Foreign Affaiars Minister Kamal Ismail said in May. Khartoum has demanded the mission to construct an exit strategy from Sudan, with the Foreign Affairs Ministry.