SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Hamdok requested aligning UNAMID withdrawal with Sudan’s peace process: UN

19/10/19: Sudan Tribune - Hamdok requested aligning UNAMID withdrawal with Sudan’s peace process: UN

 Sudan Tribune reports that the Sudanese government has requested that the UN-African Union (UNAMID) planned withdrawal from war-ravaged Darfur be aligned with the ongoing peace process.

 According to the UN’s leading peacekeeper Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Sudanese Prime Minister Hamdok made the request based on concerns expressed by Sudan’s armed groups during their consultations with the Government of Sudan.

UNAMID initially planned to withdraw its peacekeepers from Darfur by June 2020. However, the Sudanese Revolutionary Front have voiced their opposition to this, saying that militias continue to attack civilians.

 Lacroix said that the peacekeeping mission is planning to make two proposals to the UN Security Council in December 2019. The first would be to remove UNAMID peacekeepers from 13 locations to 5, mainly located in Central Jebel Marra where armed elements remain active.

The second would be to withdraw completely by June 2020, as previously planned.