UNAMID Mechanism…Looking for Support

The Tripartite Mechanism made up of the Sudanese government, the African Union and the United Nations has held a meeting at the Headquarters of the United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in El-Fashir, where issues related to the UNAMID and its status; besides development of situation on the ground. The government side was chaired by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Ambassador Rahamtallah Mohamed Osman, while the African Union was represented by the Commissioner of Security and Peace Ramatan Lamamara, and the UN by the representative of the UN Chief for peace keeping operations and the UN/AU Joint Special Representative Professor Ibrahim Gambari.
Observers were unanimous that this mechanism boosts cooperation and understanding among those parties to support UNAMID and that this 13th meeting of the mechanism has special connotations in that it was for the first time to be held in Darfur. At the beginning of the meeting, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Rahamtallah Osman affirmed the Sudanese government’s commitment to provide all facilities for bringing about peace in Darfur. He said that UNAMID has a big role to play in Doha agreement. He regarded the meeting as preparing grounds for future work, especially with regard to consultation on solution and addressing issues related to peace in the region.
The representative of UN Chief for peacekeeping operation called on the government to boost mutual cooperation for protecting civilians and delivering humanitarian relief aid to the needy in Darfur, saying that there are some areas still seeing conflicts and inaccessible to the Mission due to those restrictions, indicating various challenges to protecting civilians. He state that criminal acts in the region still pose a great challenge to the Mission and that some villages still remain inaccessible. He called on Sudanese authorities to cooperate to shift from the stage of relief to early recovery one. He said the issue of reviewing the highbred force was submitted to the UNSC, pointing out the council will deliberate on the matter during next July. He said that 700 of peacekeepers in Darfur will receive further training during next month, appealing to the hold-out movements for the necessity to join the Doha peace document.   The UN official said the meeting will pave the way for enhancing cooperation among parties in respect of supporting UNAMID.  
The AU commissioner for security and peace Ramatan Lamamra affirmed his committed to continuing work to provide an immediate impact support in the region. he revealed that the UN support is poor compared to the needs of the region. he called on UNAMID to exert further efforts to access all areas. Lamamra said that UNAMID has taken different measures to access some regions in South Darfur, commending, at the same time, great developments in the region, especially with regard to political and developmental aspect. He said that the Mission has achieved a notable progress toward the Doha peace agreement.
The Joint UN/AU representative Ibrahim Gambari said the Mission organized 120 workshops on the promotion of the Doha document in Darfur, pointing out progress in the implementation of the agreement on the ground. He urged partners for the need to support UNAMID and pave the way for countering problems hindering the work of the Mission. He commended the mechanism’s previous meetings as well as the Sudanese government’s cooperation with all of the UN agencies. Gambari hailed the government’s efforts to release the World Food Program staffer. He said during the meeting: “We declare the great progress Darfur and UNAMID have seen and gains achieved in some areas,” adding “We call for further support and ask the government to allow us access insecure regions.”“The government is imposing restrictions on us,” said Gambari. “Our tours are limited.”
With the approaching renewal of the Mission’s mandate in Darfur, Gambari called for urging all parties to extend the mandate of the Mission in the region and the necessity for cooperation with other UN agencies in the field of early development in lieu of relief aid. The chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority Dr. Atejani Sisi said that UNAMID has unique experience in peacekeeping history across the world, emphasizing the meeting of the Tripartite Mechanism will debate major concerns of the Authority. He said that the return of the IDPs is on top of priorities but added that must be well-programmed and organized, and that basic services must be provided, mainly restoring security and infrastructure destroyed by the war, in addition to the need to support plans for development and reconstruction.    He called for speedy implementation of the peace deal to help restore the social fabric. Sisi further called on the government for the need to supply resources for the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement.