UNAMID rejects false accusations in national media and by Darfur local officials
EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, April 29, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African Union – United Nation Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) denounces and rejects, in the strongest possible terms, the disingenuous fabricated accusations leveled against the Mission in various statements published in national media and made by some local government officials in Darfur. The misinformation, which generally first surfaces in a state-sponsored media outlet, is a disservice to the people of Darfur, as well as to those who work tirelessly to bring peace to the region.
Most notably, some quarters are deliberately targeting UNAMID, accusing it of “aiding rebels”, an utterly false allegation because UNAMID is neutral and not party to the conflict. To say that the AU-UN Mission in Darfur is on the side of rebel movements is also perplexing, given that these groups often accuse the Mission of just the opposite.
Charges have been made in recent media stories that are devoid of named sources or evidence and are invariably far-fetched. In one case, a local government accused “Ugandan troops operating within (the Mission) of training rebels.” This would be a difficult feat, as UNAMID never had Ugandan troops in Darfur. It was also alleged that the Mission “provided fuel and evacuation planes for the rebels,” another far-fetched fabrication, again with no basis, source, nor evidence.
It is a further stretch of the imagination by these same local officials to declare that UNAMID has indirectly provided vehicles to rebel groups through staged theft. Not only does the Mission totally reject this irresponsible statement but this accusation is particularly outrageous, considering that the Mission has lost several peacekeepers due to carjacking, including, earlier this month, a woman police advisor from Sierra Leone.
Furthermore, the same local official alleged that UNAMID was “encouraging displacement of local citizens to elongate [sic] the Darfur crisis.” This is both untrue and flies in the face of logic, as the primary mandate of UNAMID is to do everything possible to protect civilians, especially those displaced due to fighting and, ultimately, to leave as soon as a sustainable peace is achieved.
Such egregious statements do nothing to further the peace process and are an attempt to deliberately discredit and intimidate the Mission and others through blatant lies. They are an intolerable insult to our peacekeepers, many of whom have lost their lives or lay it on the line every day for the people of Darfur.
UNAMID, whose work is understood, appreciated and supported by the Government of the Sudan and other stakeholders, hopes that these hostile distortions only reflect the positions of those who utter them. The Mission remains determined, for its part, to continue to engage all parties willing to work with it in good faith, for the implementation of its core mandate of protecting the civilian population and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in need, helping to bring back the peace to Darfur and its people.
SOURCE
United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
