Sudan’s top military officer and his counterpart from the new United Nations-African Union (AU) mission, known as UNAMID, met Wednesday to discuss the deployment of the joint peacekeeping force which seeks to end the violence in the war-ravaged Darfur region.
In the talks between UNAMID General Martin Luther Agwai and Lieutenant General Ismat, Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Government expressed its commitment to facilitate the deployment of UNAMID and to avoid misunderstandings in the future, by keeping the channels of communication open through regular meetings.
The meeting was a follow-up to a decision that the military leadership of the two sides should meet, reached Tuesday.
IKKE SÅ NEMT
The so-called Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is among the unresolved issues that depend on the outcome of discussions with the Sudanese Government.
Others include the final confirmation of the composition of the force, and clearance to function 24 hours a day.
FN PRESSER PÅ
Tuesday, Mr. Adada conferred with the UN and AU Special Envoys for Darfur, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim.
They are on a weeklong mission to infuse new momentum into efforts to bring peace to Darfur.
– They all agreed that the current tension could negatively affect the deployment of UNAMID and the distribution of humanitarian assistance in Darfur, a source said.
MANGLER FOLK OG MATERIEL
Currently, UNAMID, which took over from an AU mission at the end of last month, has only 9,000 troops out of its mandated strength of 26,000, and it lacks essential logistics and equipment, including helicopters.
Top UN officials have repeatedly called on Member States to speed up delivery of vital units and assets.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes since fighting began in 2003 in Darfur between Government forces and rebel groups.
