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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Jul 06 2011 - 09:09:53 EDT
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jul-05/North-Sudan-wants-peacekeepers-out-after-south-split.ashx#axzz1RKX988fl
North Sudan wants peacekeepers out after south split
July 05, 2011 02:57 PM
Reuters
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News
KHARTOUM: North Sudan said Tuesday it wanted U.N. peacekeepers to leave
when the south secedes on July 9, shrugging off international pressure to
extend the mission to protect civilians caught up in fresh fighting.
Aid groups say tens of thousands of civilians have fled, and an unknown
number have been killed in bombing raids and clashes between the northern
army and south-allied fighters in Southern Kordofan, the north's main oil
state that borders the south.
Khartoum denies targeting civilians and says it is fighting an insurgency.
More than 10,000 peacekeeping soldiers, police and monitors are deployed in
north and south Sudan by the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) - a body set up
to monitor a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between Sudan's
north and south.
The UNMIS mandate is due to expire just at the climax of that peace deal
when the south becomes independent on Saturday, a split that was decided in
a January referendum promised by the 2005 accord.
Security Council diplomats told Reuters last week the United States,
Britain, France, Russia and China were joining forces to press Khartoum to
allow UNMIS to remain for three months after the south secedes.
But senior northern government official Rabie Abdelati ruled out any
extension, saying northern Sudanese police and military forces could handle
security in flashpoint border areas.
"We are not in a position to accept any forces after the announcement of the
independence of south Sudan. That is according to the terms of the CPA (the
2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement)," Abdelati told Reuters.
"The Sudanese armed and security forces are capable of realising and
preserving peace and security in northern Sudan ... This is a decision for
Sudan, not for Western countries," he added.
A senior humanitarian official, speaking to Reuters on condition of
anonymity, said the UNMIS withdrawal would have a devastating impact on
civilians in Southern Kordofan and other disputed areas.
"It's a scandal ... There's no way the Security Council didn't see this
coming," the official said.
"The peace deal hasn't been fulfilled. There are so many things that are
outstanding. There is armed conflict going on. Major human rights concerns.
It seems UNMIS will be asked to pack up and leave."
UNMIS declined to give a statement.
A U.N. source in the southern capital Juba confirmed UNMIS' mandate expires
on July 9, under the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement agreed six
years ago.
Peacekeepers and hundreds of civilian staff were still waiting for clear
direction from the U.N. Security Council about whether to stay at their
posts in the north, or start packing, with only days to go before the
deadline, the source said.
"That's a million dollar question. Nobody knows ... We are waiting for
Security Council instruction," said the source, when asked whether UNMIS
would close down on July 9.
Sudan has agreed to allow a contingent of Ethiopian U.N. peacekeepers to
patrol the disputed Abyei area after the split, but they would only be able
to monitor, said Abdelati.
North Sudan's Darfur region, the scene of an eight-year insurgency, is
monitored by a separate joint U.N./African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping force
that does not have the same deadline. Individual U.N. missions, including
UNICEF and the World Food Programme would also not be affected.
Read more:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jul-05/North-Sudan-wants-peacekeepers-out-after-south-split.ashx#ixzz1RKXGRMeq
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
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