The UN on Wednesday said all peacekeepers would leave Sudan's Darfur region by July 2021, bringing fears of a return to violence in the restive western province.
The mandate of the joint UN and African Union mission to Darfur runs out on December 31.
The UN will then hand over responsibility to Sudan’s transitional government and pull out its blue helmet troops.
“This will involve repatriating troops, their vehicles and other equipment, separation of international and national staff as well as a sequential closure of the mission’s team sites and offices, and handing them over to designated entities,” the mission said.
“This process should result in the withdrawal of all uniformed and civilian personnel from Sudan by June 30, 2021, except for a liquidation team that will finalise any residual issues and complete the administrative closure.”
#UNAMID Ends its Mandate on 31 December 2020https://t.co/jlmZ36tD1d #UNAMID4Darfur #A4P pic.twitter.com/RJF5570Tzd
— UNAMID (@unamidnews) December 30, 2020
The force was sent to Darfur in 2007 to end a bitter conflict between government forces and local rebels.
It now has about 6,000 military and police personnel and more than 1,500 civilian staff in the region.
The UN Security Council on December 22 agreed not to extend its mandate under pressure from Russia, several African nations and Sudan’s transitional government, which signed a peace deal with key Darfur rebel groups in October.
The mission will be replaced by a smaller political mission, which will be known as the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, focused on building institutions and holding elections.
From January 1, Khartoum is responsible for protecting civilians, delivering aid and solving disputes across Darfur, which has been beset by conflict and bouts of violence since 2003, the UN mission said.
With UNAMID’s termination on Dec. 31, Sudan’s security services bear full responsibility for protecting civilians in Darfur. The international community is willing to help prevent renewed violence. Ready to partner with Sudan to secure its people as well as its sovereignty.
— Bureau of African Affairs (@AsstSecStateAF) December 22, 2020
The UN will continue to help Khartoum tackle “security, political and economic challenges”.
Campaigners warn of continuing violence in Darfur and claim human rights abuses by military chiefs within the transitional government that replaced long-standing leader Omar Al Bashir, who was ousted in April 2019.
#PhotoOfTheDay #UNAMID peacekeepers interacting with local population in Jucosti -- an area controlled by the Sudan Liberation Army/ Abdul Wahid Al-Nur’s Faction and located approximately 12 kilometers east of Golo, Central #Darfur. #UNAMID4Darfur #A4P pic.twitter.com/d1ZEuheKN9
— UNAMID (@unamidnews) December 30, 2020
Amnesty International says the mission's mandate should be extended by six months to ensure the safety of the people of Darfur, where armed groups continue to kill civilians and ransack villages.
