United Nations: 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 council took note of the secretary-general’s proposed adjustment of benchmarks and indicators for UNAMID outlined in the report, requesting that they be refined to reflect the strategic priorities. (IANS)
