UNSC adjusts priorities on Darfur

United Nations, April 4 (IANS/WAM) The UN Security Council has endorsed Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's revised strategic priorities for the joint African Union-UN mission in the long-restive Darfur region of western Sudan.

Unanimously adopting a new resolution Thursday, the council endorsed the revised priorities for the mission (UNAMID) outlined in Ban's special report on the outcome of a three-phase, inter-agency review carried out last year on the mission's work, its much-changed operating environment and its efforts to achieve its mandate.

In that report, the secretary general noted that the "political and economic marginalization of Darfur by Khartoum continues to fuel the armed rebellion," while inter-communal violence has increased. Further, the political environment in and around Sudan has changed since UNAMID was set up.

The council is deeply concerned at the "considerable deterioration" of the security situation in Darfur over the past year, marked by ongoing clashes between the Sudanese Government and rebels, and an upsurge in inter-communal violence.

"New conflict dynamics have emerged and old ones remain unaddressed," the UN chief stated in his report, explaining that in such a context, the mission's strategic priorities needed to be revised to reflect the changing environment and to increase its effectiveness.

The strategic revisions to UNAMID he recommended and endorsed by the council are: mediation between the government and non-signatory armed movements on the basis of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur; the protection of civilians; the facilitation of the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the safety and security of humanitarian personnel; provision of support, in conjunction with the UN Country Team, to the mediation in communal conflicts, including through measures to address the root causes.

On its part, the council requested UNAMID to focus and streamline its activities, across its military, police and civilian components, in order to achieve progress on these three strategic priorities.

The 15-nation body recognised that its effective implementation would require certain tasks of the mission to be de-prioritised and requested Ban to include these tasks in his next regular report on UNAMID.

The council took note of the secretary-general's proposed adjustment of benchmarks and indicators for UNAMID outlined in the report, requesting that they be further refined to reflect the strategic priorities.

--IANS/WAM

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