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The UN Security Council made a decision this week to liquidate the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in Darfur, Sudan.
UNAMID is currently the largest peacekeeping mission in the history of UN peacekeeping.
Dr. Ashraf Eissa, spokesman for UNAMID, where Rwanda has more than 1,000 peacekeepers, told The New Times on Friday, December 25, that the UN Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 2559 on the situation in Darfur and ordered UNAMID to cease its operations in Darfur. before December 31, 2020.
“The Council gave a deadline until June 30 (2021) for the Mission to repatriate its troops and personnel, followed by a liquidation period in which a small team can dispose of the assets and complete the closure of the Mission. “, said.
“This means that the last UNAMID patrol will leave on December 31 and after that there will be no more mandatory activities than withdrawal followed by closure.”
According to the spokesman, the UN has not yet established the details about the reduction, but they are pending.
UNAMID troops came from Rwanda, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Tanzania.
When, in August 2004, just 10 years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda deployed its first contingency in a peacekeeping mission, it was under the auspices of the then African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) . The latter had a mandate to reduce the humanitarian catastrophe that was boiling over in Darfur. Rwanda’s first contingent of 155 soldiers were also the first on the ground for the new peacekeeping mission.
Later, a new hybrid peacekeeping mission between the AU and the UN was formally approved by Security Council Resolution 1769 on July 31, 2007, to bring stability to the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. while the peace talks continued.
The Security Council has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.
Currently, Rwanda is the third country in the world to contribute UN troops.
Rwanda has deployed more than 6,000 military and police personnel in different peacekeeping missions around the world.
