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Despite the latest violent clashes in Darfur, the United Nations ended its peacekeeping mission in the troubled Sudanese region on Thursday. This means that the “responsibility to protect civilians” will be transferred to the government of Sudan, according to a UNAMID statement. The joint mission of the UN and the African Union (AU) was active in Darfur for 13 years.
Just over a week ago, the UN Security Council agreed to suspend the mission on December 31. According to the resolution, the withdrawal of personnel and equipment must begin on Friday; must be completed by June 30th.
The interim government of Khartoum called for an end to the mission, which began in 2007. Both the United Nations and the African Union had also spoken out in favor of this step, despite protests from many Darfurians outside headquarters. of the mission in the regional capital, Nyala. However, the human rights organization Amnesty International demanded an extension of the mission and warned of a “security vacuum”.
At the height of the UANMID mission, 16,000 peacekeepers were stationed in Darfur. In 2003, a bloody conflict broke out between rebel groups and the army under then-President Omar al-Bashir in the western region of Sudan, which, according to UN estimates, killed some 300,000 people. 2.5 million people have been displaced.
From 2008 to 2009, the Austrian Armed Forces participated in an EUFOR mission to protect refugees from Darfur and internally displaced persons in Chad.
For some years now, Darfur has been relatively quiet. In recent weeks, however, there have been repeated skirmishes and violent clashes between hostile groups and between nomads and Arab farmers. Many residents of the region fear a resurgence of violence following Unamid’s withdrawal.
