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| Africa Horn |
| Sudan slams peacekeepers, sets travel controls |
| 2010-08-01 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan said on Saturday it would monitor travel by U.N./African Union peacekeepers in Darfur -- a day after the U.N. Security Council extended the force's mandate and told Khartoum to stop hindering its work. The government has been hostile to the UNAMID peacekeepers ever since they began to deploy in 2007, and relations worsened after the International Criminal Court indicted the Sudanese president for war crimes, and more recently genocide, in Darfur. Peace talks between Khartoum and the rebels are under way in Qatar but have been boycotted by the two main rebel groups, and eight people were killed this week in a surge of violence in refugee camps between supporters and opponents of the talks. The U.N. Security Council extended UNAMID's mandate on Friday for a further year and ordered it to give priority to protecting civilians and ensuring free humanitarian access to refugees. The council's 15 ambassadors unanimously adopted a British-drafted resolution that extends the mandate, which expires Saturday, to July 31, 2011. The text said the mission must "make full use of its mandate and capabilities, giving priority in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources to the protection of civilians in Darfur and ensuring safe, timely and unhindered humanitarian access, the safety and security of humanitarian personnel." It strongly condemned all attacks on UNAMID, underlining that "any attack or threat on UNAMID is unacceptable." |
| Posted by:Fred |