UN withdraws Sudan troops

– The UN Security Council agreed to a major drawdown of peacekeepers in Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur after US pressure led to a $600-million (R7.8-billion) cut in the UN budget for peace operations.

The council unanimously adopted a British-drafted resolution that will reduce the number of troops and police serving in the joint African Union-UN mission, known as Unamid, by at least 30%.

Deployed in 2007, Unamid has about 16 000 blue helmets on the ground who are tasked with protecting civilians in the war that Sudan’s government forces and pro-Khartoum militias are waging against rebel groups.

The United Nations and African Union maintain that the Darfur conflict is winding down and that the mission – among the costliest with a budget of more than $1 billion – should be trimmed.

Human rights groups warn that the conflict is far from over and that the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers will leave many areas of the vast Darfur region without international protection.

“We recognise that the situation in Darfur remains fragile,” said British deputy ambassador Peter Wilson, but added that the changes reflected “the current reality.”

The council agreed to a gradual reduction of Unamid peacekeepers to be carried out in two phases of six months.

A first drawdown will reduce the number of troops from 13 000 to about 11 400 in six months before dropping to 8 735 by the end of June next year.

The number of police will drop from 3 150 to 2 888 by January and 2 500 by June.

The smaller Unamid will be redeployed to the region of Jebel Marra, where most of the recent violence has been reported.

But the drawdown could be reviewed if the Sudanese government fails to ensure protection in those areas from where the peacekeepers will withdraw.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will report to the council after six months on whether “conditions on the ground remain conducive to further reductions”.

More than 2.5 million people have been displaced and 300 000 killed in the conflict that erupted in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir’s Arab-dominated government, accusing it of marginalising the region. – AFP