UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Friday formally recommends that the United Nations establish a peace-support mission in southern Sudan, and calls on Member States to contribute more than 10.000 troops and 700 civilian police to the operation, warning that the civil war that has just ended there “cannot quickly or easily be dispatched to history.”
In a report to the Security Council, Mr. Annan says a long-term commitment by the international community is essential to help make secure and to reconstruct the southern part of Africas largest country, which was torn by war for more than two decades.
But he states that the mission faces daunting logistical challenges: aside from its security problems, southern Sudan is extremely isolated, with “poor communications, few hardened roads or runways and an inoperable railway system,” as well as extra transport restrictions during the annual rainy season. Landmines and unexploded ordnances present another risk.
The area covered by the mission – which would be set up under Chapter VI of the UN Charter – is also so large that one of the six proposed operational sectors is the size of Austria and another is equal to the state of New York.
The report to the Council follows last months signing of a peace deal ending the civil war between the Sudanese Government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that had raged since 1983.
The peace agreement has provisions on power-sharing, some autonomy for the south, and more equitable distribution of economic resources, including oil.
Kilde: FNs nyhedstjeneste
