The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), a peacekeeping force, officially withdrew from the conflict-ridden region on Thursday, handing over the responsibility of maintaining Darfur’s security to the Sudanese government. The withdrawal was in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 2559, adopted in December, which ended UNAMID’s mandate.
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In a statement released on Wednesday, the UN Mission to Sudan stated that M’Baye Babakar Cissé, the Assistant Secretary-General of UNAMID, was tasked with overseeing the drawdown period, which includes personnel management and asset repatriation, transferring the mission sites to local authorities, and engaging with the government on relevant issues. “Over the past four months, the UNAMID handed over 14 team sites to the government, who committed to using them for civilian purposes in line with the Framework Agreement signed on March 4, 2021,” the statement read. It also mentioned that Darfur communities have been provided with 193 vehicles, including 27 water and sewage trucks and 196 generators.
“Good coordination and cooperation with the Government of Sudan have been critical for meeting the tight timeline and benchmarks set by the Security Council for the drawdown period,” Cissé noted. He added that it was the responsibility of the Sudanese government to “ensure the protection of the Logistics Base and the repatriation of remaining staff to facilitate a seamless liquidation phase.” Cissé expressed his confidence that the Transition Government of Sudan led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was well prepared to deal with the security of Darfur and welcomed the government’s initiatives to address issues like the resettlement of displaced persons and women empowerment.
The UNSC adopted Resolution 2559 on December 22 to “terminate the mandate” of the UNAMID by withdrawing “all uniformed and civilian personnel […] by June 30 2021.” The Council urged the Sudanese government to “protect civilians in Darfur in accordance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law [and] underscored the need to build local community confidence in the ability of rule-of-law institutions to deliver justice, ensure accountability and provide legal protection to vulnerable communities.”
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Since the UN announced its decision to withdraw troops from Darfur, there has been a steady increase in violence. Radio Dabanga attributed the ongoing insecurity in Darfur to the “vacuum created” by the UNAMID’s withdrawal. The agency reported many instances of vandalism and looting of the UNAMID outposts in Darfur. Earlier this month, two people were killed and eight injured after one of the Mission’s sites was destroyed.
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Moreover, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that many residents of Darfur are fearful of a spike in violence once the UN Mission completes its drawdown and sees the rise in the looting of the UNAMID bases sign of worse things to come. In January, months after the Hamdok government signed a peace deal with Sudanese rebels and weeks after the UN announced its withdrawal from Sudan, there was a spate of attacks in Darfur’s El Geneina, resulting in 163 deaths and the displacement of over 130,000 people.
The UNAMID operation came into force in 2007 and represented the first joint UN-AU mission. It has over 6,000 military and 1,500 civilian personnel, hailing from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania.