UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari’s statement to the press

 

 

 

UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari’s statement to the press

 

 

KARTHOUM, Sudan, February 17, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari’s statement to the press as delivered in Khartoum, 16 February 2011

Members of the international and national press,

Distinguished members of the diplomatic corps,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you to the third UNAMID press conference since I assumed the position of JSR. I will present a short overview and assessment of the situation in Darfur, following which I will be ready for any questions you may have.

As you are aware, over recent months and particularly in November and December 2010, the security situation in some parts of Darfur deteriorated. This was due largely to military clashes between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the forces of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Similarly, the deterioration in relations between the Parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement led to heavy military confrontations between SAF and the forces of the Sudan Liberation Army/MM (SLA/MM) in Khor Abeche, Dar Al Salam, Shangil Tobaya and Shaeria. Unfortunately, those clashes resulted in severe humanitarian consequences, including significant displacements, loss of lives and property. A considerable number of IDPs sought refuge in UNAMID Team Sites where military and Police personnel provided security, health services, food and other basic needs. Although the situation in these conflict-affected areas has improved and UNAMID has stepped up confidence building patrols in order to encourage gradual returns, several IDPs remain clustered around our Team Sites.

I am deeply concerned about these renewed clashes and have since made strong appeals to the Parties to cease further hostilities in the interest of ongoing peace efforts and the safety of the people of Darfur. I have particularly stressed that while armed confrontations may meet short term military objectives, they do not hold the solution to the achievement of durable and sustainable peace in Darfur. I am happy to inform that in my engagements with the Parties, I received further assurances of the willingness to remain focused on the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur.

UNAMID’s immediate priority is to focus on its protection of civilian responsibilities and in this regard, we have adopted a new approach on movement and access. I am happy to note that on this issue of the new approach, the Government of Sudan has shown a commendable willingness to cooperate with us in ensuring that we have the required access and freedom of movement to implement our mandate. Under the new approach, UNAMID shall continue to notify the GoS of its movement plans for coordination purposes but this would not in any way imply a request for permission to gain access to desired locations. While UNAMID is happy to receive government’s security advisories for these movements, the final decision would rest with UNAMID. The Government has made statements recognizing UNAMID’s right to move feely within its mandated areas of operation without any restrictions. I have requested for written guarantees to this effect and when received, UNAMID may present this to GoS security personnel in field locations where these restrictions usually occur.

UNAMID has also significantly stepped up its patrols aimed at providing security to civilians and stabilizing the situation in areas of conflict. UNAMID patrols have increased from 90 to 130 military and police patrols daily with additional surge capacity when required. For example between 1 January and 10 February 2011, over 6000 patrols were conducted, mostly to deter armed violence against civilians. UNAMID is also in the process of expanding and upgrading Teams Sites in order to extend protection cover to larger parts of Darfur. In this regard, UNAMID civilian personnel would be deployed to these sites to increase capacities of the military and police contingents in the implementation of a newly formulated Protection of Civilians Strategy.

 
 

Developed in conjunction with relevant members of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), the strategy aims to provide comprehensive strategic and operational guidance for the implementation of the Mission’s protection mandate. It would seek to ensure the following: (i) fulfillment by the Government, armed groups and other non‐state actors of their responsibilities to protect civilians in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law; (ii) protection of civilians from physical acts of violence; (iii) freedom of access to populations at risk; and (iv) prevention of violations of human rights, and the provision of effective response, particularly in regard to women and children.  UNAMID is committed to respond robustly and proactively in all these areas. However, relative to the size of Darfur, the UNAMID force would appear limited. I therefore call upon all parties to the conflict to consider the harmful effects of armed violence against civilian populations and to extend to UNAMID maximum cooperation in ensuring their safety.

 
 

I am particularly delighted by the positive news coming out of Doha and the likelihood of imminent breakthrough and conclusion of a peace agreement with the participation of JEM. In this regard, I would like to commend the efforts of the Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassolé, the Government of Qatar, and the Parties, in ensuring this anticipated outcome. UNAMID continues to render support to JCM Bassolé and his team and remains engaged with the Parties in order to support a timely conclusion of a peace agreement.

 
 

UNAMID is also committed to fulfilling its responsibilities in the implementation of related agreements as specified in its mandate. It is in that regard and with support from the United Nations, the African Union and international partners that preliminary consultations and planning began with the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to launch the Darfur Political Process (DPP). The DPP can simply be described as the process of engaging a wide range of stakeholders in a dialogue process to build consensus on and to find solutions to the conflicts in Darfur. It is therefore envisaged that these broad based consultations and dialogues would enrich, build upon and deepen internal support, thereby broadening the legitimacy for the Doha outcome. This will greatly increase the chances for sustainable peace, reconciliation and recovery in Darfur. 

 
 

The DPP is therefore not by any means an associated initiative of the GoS Darfur Strategy. Rather, what we expect from the Government of Sudan, at the state and local level, is to create an enabling environment to make the DPP and its outcome credible to those both at home and abroad. Hence, UNAMID is also engaging the government on the vital need to create this enabling environment for the people of Darfur and other relevant stakeholders to freely participate in the DPP. A joint committee has been tasked to work on this.  The DPP therefore deserves your support and encouragement if we are to ensure durable and irreversible peace in Darfur.

 
 

Sudan has witnessed a defining moment in history – the peaceful conduct of the referendum on southern Sudan.  UNAMID played its role by providing logistical support to the process in Darfur. I would like to congratulate the people of Sudan and commend the outstanding statesmanship of President Al Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit in leading the people of Sudan through this moment of history. I applaud the efforts of UNMIS, led by Special Representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Haile Menkerios, and international partners for the support and facilities provided in all stages of the process.  The efforts of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), led by former President Thabo Mbeki and the Secretary General’s Panel on the Referenda, led by former President Benjamin Mkapa are worthy of mention. Their steadfast engagement with the parties ensured progress on this delicate aspect of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

With the release of the results of the referendum and acceptance by the parties, including their declared commitment to a peaceful transition, a new dawn emerges in the history of North – South relations. However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you, representatives of the press, the international community and all parties in Sudan of the critical need to maintain a keen focus on Darfur and on the urgency of finding a lasting political settlement of the conflict.

Whether the transition of Southern Sudan into an independent nation remains peaceful or is fraught with conflict will have direct impact on Darfur, as Southern Darfur maintains a sizeable area of the disputed borders between North and South.  For the People of Darfur and UNAMID, our destinies are directly linked to the future outcome of North – South relations. It is therefore, partly in this regard, that I plan to convene the Third Retreat of Special Envoys in Nyala, South Darfur on 18 February. This retreat is aimed at bringing together all Special Envoys, representatives of diplomatic missions focused on Darfur and other international partners to take stock of developments in Darfur since the last Retreat in July 2010, and also to discuss the impact of the Referendum on Darfur.  

UNAMID and the UNCT have made considerable progress in coordination and cooperation to help the people of Darfur, where security situation permits, to begin the slow but steady progress to live normal lives. Working closely with relevant UN agencies and the GoS, modest but significant progress was recently achieved with the facilitation of voluntary returns of IDPs from South Darfur to West Darfur. We have been encouraged by the initial results and would continue to work with relevant stake holders to accommodate the growing numbers of IDPs who have expressed the wish to voluntarily leave the IDP camps. UNAMID is also working with relevant UNCT, such as UNICEF and WHO on related projects such as convening an international water conference to raise funds for water projects in Darfur and other early recovery initiatives to support a return to normalcy in some parts of Darfur.

 
 

I am also happy to note that during the recent Tripartite Mechanism meetings involving the Government of Sudan, the African Union and the United Nations in Addis Ababa on 3 February, approval was granted to UNAMID for the implementation of the “Bridging solution” for a UNAMID radio Frequency. A UNAMID radio station will not only serve the mission but would be mainly devoted to the needs of the people of Darfur. It would be a veritable means of promoting inclusive dialogue and dispelling misconceptions, particularly on efforts to achieve sustainable peace in Darfur. There was also a general agreement among all present at the Tripartite meeting on the need for the Doha process to conclude quickly and for the initial planning for the DPP to begin in earnest in order to ensure seamless transition and popular acceptance for the Doha outcome.   Subsequent meetings of the mechanism would be held at strategic and working levels.

 
 

I assumed the duties of JSR just over a year ago. It has been inspiring to serve with the very dedicated military, police and civilian staff who keep the mission running in some of the harshest of conditions.  More importantly it has been an honour and privilege to serve the people of Darfur on behalf of the United Nations and the African Union. UNAMID remains committed to robustly implement it core mandate and I call on all our partners to support the Mission in this crucial task.

I thank you very much for your attention and am available for your questions.

 
 

Question and answer session:

 
 

Q1: About the new approach to access, what was the old approach? Did your forces wait for clearance before going on Missions and if that is [the case], why did you because UNAMID is one of the biggest Missions in the world? Second question, now that there is this new approach can you confirm that there has been no stoppages this month? And that you now have free access to Jebel Marra for example? And, could you react to the expulsion of the INGO Médecins du Monde?

 
 

Q2: Why is it that the number of forces in UNAMID Mission is not completed until now.

Q3: Within your new strategy in Darfur or approach in Darfur are you going to pledge to interfere in conflicts and deter conflicts or are you are just going to be there writing reports and sending them?

Q4: My question is related to the fact that the JSR said there is an eminent conclusion or agreement coming from Doha.  Actually, Minni Minawi has stepped back and said he wants nothing to do with it. What is the position of UNAMID for impact for Minnawi leaving Doha?

JSR Gambari: Ok, I think there are enough questions for me to respond and let me do so and then we will seek for another set of questions.  First, the first set of questions from our colleagues from Reuters. The first question as I understand it is what was the old approach? Protection issues to the issue of freedom of movement and why was that approach in being and that’s the first question.

JSR Gambari: Three quick answers.  First, UNAMID forces took quite a long time for them to be deployed. As a matter of fact, the tripartite mechanism, that is the Government of Sudan, the African Union, and the United Nations, have been preoccupied with the issue of the deployment of UNAMID forces.  As I speak now however, I am happy to say that the Military were almost ninety per cent fully deployed. The civilian police about seventy four per cent and the Civilian about seventy two percent.  Nonetheless, we still need –we are short of utility helicopters, also our tactical helicopters came late in coming. They are now here and we have permission to fly them-including with weapons as and when necessary.  So the slowness in the deployment of our assets was one factor. The second, is that there was a mistaken view on the part of our own people that notification of the Government of Sudan on our movement was equivalent to seeking permission.  And thirdly there was a kind of mindset-too cautious you know even when we were attacked and killed, there wasn’t much of a response but all of this has changed.

JSR Gambari: So we are not seeking permission.  We are not going to be reckless with our forces but we intend to be more robust in implementing our mandate particularly according to the status of Forces agreement. And, you will see that in terms of ability to defend ourselves there are now fortunately, fewer direct attacks on our personnel.  The Sector West Commander is here, General Wade.  The last time we had an attack on our forces, sadly they killed three of our Rwandan Forces but we inflicted equal if not more damage on them. The idea is to defend ourselves so as to give confidence to our ability to provide protection to civilians and I believe it is working. I must also say that recent incidents in ZamZam camp and Shangil Tobaya, we have been able to push back on an effort to prevent us from doing our duty. 

JSR Gambari: I cannot say in all honesty that there is no restriction on our movement but I believe compared with the total number of patrols we do a day-they are few and even where those restrictions occur, we challenge them and even when we retreat we go back and we are going to continue to go back until we access all the areas of our operation.

JSR Gambari: And I am sensing a greater willingness on the part of the Government to respect the implementation of our new approach.  As a matter of fact we are also working with the Government to have a Ceasefire even if it is for an initial limited period in Jebel Marra so that the areas that were previously not accessible, we would be able to access them. And particularly for the delivery of vaccination for polio, which will be jointly conducted by WHO and UNICEF.

JSR Gambari: With the recent expulsion or decision to expel Médecins du Monde in South Darfur, I consider that unfortunate in the sense that there was a mechanism agreed that before the state authorities take action like that they should have coordinated with the relevant United Nations and other agencies so that they can look into the substance of complaints and address them before such extreme actions are taken and I hope cooler heads will prevail and there will be second thoughts given to the issue of expulsion of any aid agency.

JSR Gambari: Very quickly, the second question, why is the number of forces not completed until now.  Well, it has been the reluctance of some of the troop contributing countries or police contributing countries to send the troops and also some of the difficulties in getting visas.  But as I said we are almost all fully deployed and so we are now ready to implement fully our new approach to protection of civilians’ mandate and this approach will be additional to-we have to write reports.  We are mandated to write reports but beyond writing reports, we are going to be more robust, more proactive in fulfilling our core mandates.

JSR Ibrahim Gambari: The third question was the imminent conclusion of the agreement to which I referred. The question was how about Minni Minawi kind of stepping out of the Darfur Peace Agreement.  We think, that it’s unfortunate that the only agreement so far on the books which is the DPA-the Darfur Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and Minni Minawi that agreement now seems to be in serious trouble because Minni Minawi- the only signatory has decided to leave it.  The only signatory among the armed elements has decided to leave it.  My position and my superiors position is that all armed movements should join the peace process because there can be no military solution to the conflict in Darfur.  If there could have been, there would have been therefore we call on everybody to join hands to return –to join the peace process in the case of SLA Abdul Wahid and to return to the peace process in the case of JEM and Minni Minawi.

Q5: You mentioned here that some peacekeepers themselves died from the conflict in Darfur. My question is, how satisfied are you with the mandate given to you to protect peacekeepers themselves? And would you please explain a little bit the new strategy to protect civilians in Darfur and is it going to make a difference because we have seen a lot of civilians dying in the conflict in Darfur? Thank you very much.

Q6: Is it possible for UNAMID ask help from UNMIS after Mission end in July? Is that possible?

Q7: What is the opinion of UNAMID in the fact that some exiting next or future alliances of the armed forces.  Do you think that some of these alliances may help in the peace process? Do you think that any alliances or existing alliances or future alliances between the armed forces in Darfur would help the peace process and stability?

JSR Gambari: First of all, the question that am I satisfied that peacekeepers are being killed.  I am completely dissatisfied and very distressed and from the time of AMIS- the African Mission to Sudan [up]to now, we have recorded forty seven peacekeepers killed.  Twenty seven of these are I believe from Nigeria but seventeen from Rwanda and the last two were from I believe Egypt. Now these are very unfortunate. These are peacekeepers we are here to keep the peace.  We are here not to fight directly and certainly not to get killed. But unfortunately these are some of the risks that are attendant even in peacekeeping situations where there is no peace agreement to keep-no peace agreement to implement.

JSR Gambari: And I will continue to deploy my forces in a robust and very proactive manner but not in a reckless manner because I do not want to have more of my peacekeepers killed as a result of doing their work.

JSR Gambari: But with respect to the new strategy to protect civilians. There are several elements.  The first is to hold the Government of Sudan accountable for the protection of civilians because that is the primary responsibility for the protection of civilians belongs to the Government of Sudan. That is number one.

JSR Gambari: I also want to appeal to the armed movements, their troops particularly their Generals on the ground to do nothing to undermine the protection of civilian strategy that is being pursued by UNAMID.

JSR Gambari: The second is about quick reaction. Because we cannot be everywhere everytime.  I have instructed the Joint Operations center-JOC in UNAMID to setup a quick reaction force in order to assist civilians who are under imminent threat.

Third I have increased the number of patrols conducted by UNAMID from ninety to about one hundred and thirty both long range and short range per day.

JSR Gambari: And the fourth dimension of the new protection of civilian strategy is prevention so that we try to maintain and develop good contacts with the IDP’s, with the adjoining communities so that they can share with us knowledge that can help us anticipate areas of possible conflict and if possible to deter them.  To prevent them.

JSR Gambari: And finally, we are working with authorities at the state and national levels to address the issue of impunity because that’s also a threat not just to peacekeepers but also the civilian population so that those who may have perpetrated violent acts against civilians, should be promptly arrested, they should be tried and should be punished to the full extent of the law.

JSR Gambari: Well, there is question of UNAMID after July.  To be honest with you, I don’t know the answer to that because that is not in my hands.  This is going to be discussed at the strategic levels between the United Nations, The African Union and the Government of Sudan as to what should be the United Nations presence in North Sudan after the separation of the South and how will this affect the future configuration of UNAMID or its future as a whole.

JSR Gambari: There was a third question on how I see the alignment of the armed movements; whether their coming together could be a source for peace or not.

It depends on what they actually do.  If like say they reported coming together of JEM and LJM is to have a common front and to negotiate seriously with government and come to an agreement, I think that’s a good move.

JSR Gambari: But if the coming together of the armed movement is to continue the fighting then clearly that is not in the best interest of the people of Darfur whom as I said have already suffered for too long and too deeply.

JSR Gambari: And therefore I use this opportunity to appeal to the international community to exert as much pressure on the armed movements to enter the peace process and to be serious about reaching a negotiated settlement to this conflict in Darfur.

 

SOURCE 

United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)