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Sudan’s UNAMID to evacuate 11 military sites in Darfur

October 23, 2017 at 12:32 pm

The United Nations African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) announced yesterday that 11 military positions will be evacuated, in coordination with Sudan, following a UN resolution approved earlier this year.

Ashraf Issa, spokesperson of UNAMID’s Joint Special Representative (JSR) said during a press conference that the mission will now focus on traditional peacekeeping missions within the Greater Jebel Marra area.

“The rest of Darfur will benefit from the mission’s efforts to consolidate stability with humanitarian and development partners,” he said.

Issa said that the mission recommends that the Sudanese government transfer the evacuated sites to facilities that contribute to the overall development of local communities.

He explained that the first phase of the mission’s reconfiguration process would be completed by January 2018 adding that by that time UNAMID will have reduced its authorised ceiling for uniformed personnel to 11,395 military and 2,888 police.

Phase two will include reducing military personnel to 8,735 military and 2,500 police officers by June 2018.

Read more: UN: 13,000 Sudanese refugees return to Darfur

According to Issa, the number of civilian posts will be reduced in two phases. Phase one will be completed by December 2017 and will include cancelling 426 posts, and phase two will include cancelling 147 jobs by June 2018.

The UN Security Council decided in June to reduce UNAMID military components to 11,395 troops and the police component to 2,888 during the first phase followed by a second phase which would start from 1 February 2018.

As of April 2017, UNAMID had 13,613 troops and 3,245 police officers.

UNAMID has been deployed in Darfur since early 2008. It is the second largest UN peacekeeping mission, with more than 20,000 troops, security forces and personnel of various nationalities, with an annual budget of $1.4 billion.

The Sudanese army announced in April 2016 that it taken back control of all areas in Darfur.