The United Nations said it regretted Chad’s request for UN peacekeepers to withdraw and defended itself against allegations that the blue-helmet force has been a failure.
“It’s of course regrettable that the government of Chad has requested the withdrawal of MINURCAT and attributing it to the failure of the United Nations force,” UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters.
Chad’s President Idriss Deby, who has asked the United Nations not to renew the mandate of its MINURCAT border monitoring mission in the East, said yesterday during a rare visit to Khartoum that the force had not fully deployed and was unable to fulfill its mandate to protect civilians.
Nesirky disagreed with Deby’s characterization of the UN force in the land-locked central African country, saying it was “most definitely not a failure.”
“As of today, the force is at 70 percent of its authorized strength, it’s highly visible, and it’s actively establishing its presence throughout the area of operations through the conduct of long- and short-range patrols and the escort of humanitarian actors,” he said.
Nesirky added that MINURCAT has “provided the deterrence necessary” to ensure that humanitarian aid workers have safe access to refugees.
The mandate of MINURCAT lapses in mid-March. The blue helmet force, which has an authorized strength of over 5 500 troops and police, began deploying in March 2009, when UN-commanded troops took over from a European Union force.
MINURCAT is responsible for ensuring security for humanitarian actions, particularly in the northeast of Chad, which borders Sudan’s conflict-torn western Darfur region.
Violence in Darfur erupted in early 2003, when mostly non-Arab rebels began fighting the Sudanese government and Khartoum responded by mobilizing militia to quell the uprising. The United Nations estimates the ensuing conflict claimed up to 300 000 lives and drove 2 million people from their homes.
Khartoum says 10 000 people died in the conflict.
Deby and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on suspicion of orchestrating mass murder and deportations in Darfur, agreed yesterday to end their proxy wars and work together to rebuild their border areas.
The two men’s decision to meet is seen aimed at bolstering security and credibility before impending polls in both nations. Relations between the two oil producing nations have been icy, with each capital backing rebels fighting the other’s government.
Source: www.af.reuters.com
