The decision to terminate UNAMID was taken by the UN Security Council on 23 December at the request of the Sudanese government

UN mission leaves a Darfur in peace, but with many fears

photo_camera AFP/ ASHRAF SHAZLY - Members of the African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons in North Darfur

UNAMID, the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, concludes its mandate this Thursday, 13 years after it began, but although the civil war that devastated this region of Sudan ended in 2008 there is still an active rebel group, as well as 1.8 million displaced people and episodes of tribal violence.

The decision to end UNAMID was taken by the UN Security Council on 23 December at the request of the Sudanese government, after it signed a peace agreement with the country's main rebel movements, including most of those in Darfur, in October.

However, the armed groups and displaced persons still living in camps are opposed to their departure because they consider the Sudanese state is not yet ready to provide security for its inhabitants.

This peace agreement includes the formation of joint forces of the Sudanese Army and the signatory rebel groups to protect civilians in Darfur.

Furthermore, last June the United Nations resolved to set up a new mission, UNITAMS, for the whole of Sudan, with a mandate from 1 January to accompany the democratic transition following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

But these joint forces have yet to be formed and UNITAMS is neither complete nor has its head been appointed, so it is feared that until it is fully operational there will be a security vacuum.

AFP/ ASHRAF SHAZLY - Rwandan peacekeepers, part of the UN and African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID), stand guard in the town of Golo in central Darfur 
Assessment of the mission

UNAMID deployed to Darfur in 2007 in the midst of a bloody civil war that left over 300,000 dead between 2003 and 2008, according to the UN, after armed groups rose up against the government in protest at the poverty and marginalisation suffered by the region's inhabitants.

From 2017, when the mission had 16,000 members on the ground, it began to reduce its staff to just under 6,000, of whom 4,000 are military.

The head of the mission, Jeremiah Mamabolo, told Efe that the mission has managed, despite all the problems it encountered and the obstacles put in its way by Al-Bashir's regime, to carry out its task.

"We gained the confidence of the people of Darfur, especially in the camps for displaced persons by providing them with security and humanitarian aid," said Mamabolo, who explained that of the 2.5 million people who were once in those camps, there are now 1.8 million.

He recalled that despite the signing of the peace agreement in October, "the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Nur is still active in Central Darfur State and bloody tribal conflicts continue in several states" that make up the vast region.

However, "there is a new government accepted by the people and committed to peace; to putting an end to the problems of the citizens of the Darfur region, and to addressing the effects of war".

PHOTO/REUTERS - Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok 
Rejection on departure

Residents of the 155 remaining camps for displaced persons in Darfur and 20 refugee camps in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic do not feel safe, Adam Riyal, spokesman for the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees, told Efe.

In recent days, there have been demonstrations in some of these camps against the withdrawal of UNAMID.

Riyal pointed out that, despite the weakness of the peace mission, human rights violations could be documented and warned that in Darfur there are still murders, looting and rapes and that the combined forces of the government and the armed groups will not be able to stop them.

He also warned that they could come between African tribal farmers and Arab livestock breeders, whose disputes over water and land often lead to deadly clashes.

The armed movements, despite having signed a peace agreement with the government, had also asked for an extension of UNAMID's mandate.

"The Security Council's decision regarding the peacekeepers is frustrating, because it was possible to maintain the joint mission until the start of UNITAMS' activity, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2021," said Mutassim Saleh, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement, one of Darfur's leading movements.

For his part, the governor of South Darfur state, Musa Mahdi, considered that "the time is right for UNAMID's departure", which must complete its withdrawal by 30 June 2021, since there are currently no clashes between the rebels and the government, which will provide better protection for civilians.

More in Politics