UNAMID seeks AU support for Darfur peace process

UNAMID seeks AU support for Darfur peace process

African Union/United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has stressed the need for the African Union (AU) to give its firm support to the peace process.

The Joint Special Representative (JSR) and head of UNAMID, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, who made the call, noted that the support would help consolidate on the successes recorded so far in the Darfur peace process and lead Sudan back to being a stable state.

In an address to the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) made available to reporters on Wednesday by UNAMID Public Communications Department in Darfur, Gambari warned that renewed violence would only undermine substantial progress made since the signing of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) between the Government and the Justice and Liberation Movement (LJM) on July 14, 2011.

He noted that “the Darfur region of Sudan currently faces an important moment of transition and the AU, along with the international community, needs to act decisively and collectively” to consolidate on the political and humanitarian gains made recently as well as encourage further progress.

‘The path of negotiation’

The Nigerian JSR told the AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) at the on-going meeting in Addis Ababa that the prospects for a resumption of hostilities in Darfur could not be discountenanced. “Renewed fighting would not only present a challenge to UNAMID’s mandate to protect civilians but also seriously undermine the implementation of the DDPD and efforts to conduct a credible internal dialogue,” Gambari stressed.

Gambari said the Government of Sudan had positively demonstrated its commitment to implementing the DDPD by appointing a Darfuri to the post of Second Vice-President of the Republic and the Head of the LJM, Mr Eltijani Seisi as chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority.

Noting the increase in “belligerent rhetoric” against the government by major armed movements that have not joined the peace process, Gambari, pointed out that “it is doubly important that the African Union and the international community stress in words and actions their opposition to the military means chosen to advance political objectives.”

He urged the Council to encourage all parties to the conflict to pursue the path of negotiations and support a credible and inclusive internal dialogue.

NP/Adekusie/Williams