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 UN On Alert Ahead Of Beshir Arrest Warrant Decision
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KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP)--Peacekeepers in Sudan are on high alert for fear of a potential hostile reaction against foreigners if the International Criminal Court accepts a recommendation to issue a warrant for the arrest for President Omar al-Beshir.
The U.N. has 9,800 peacekeepers overseeing a 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of deadly conflict in south Sudan. With the African Union, it also runs a joint peacekeeping mission in the western region of Darfur which has 15,200 police and troops.
Given the importance of their work, both missions are endeavoring to continue business as usual ahead of the court's announcement of its decision, which could come as early as this week.
But they have raised security to Phase Four, the highest level on the U.N.'s planning below large-scale evacuation, officials of the joint U.N. African Union Mission in Darfur, or UNAMID, said.
In Phase Four, programs are suspended and personnel not directly concerned with emergency or humanitarian relief operations or security matters are relocated.
In Phase Five, all personnel are evacuated except those required for Security Council-mandated activities related to the maintenance of international peace and security.
UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni was unapologetic about the contingency planning. "You shouldn't underestimate any outburst," he told AFP.
The need to ramp up the security level has left UNAMID in something of a quandary.
Although the U.N. Security Council first approved the mission in July 2007, it remains sharply below its planned strength of 26,000 police and troops and the force had planned to bring in large numbers of additional personnel during this year so that it could reach full strength by November.
"Phase Four puts us in a contradictory position - on the one hand we're being asked to respect our mandate by increasing the number of U.N. peacekeepers deployed but at the same time we are having to limit our staff numbers for security reasons," one UNAMID official told AFP. "We have to make a distinction between the force strength and how people are employed on the ground."
Sudanese officials have been cautious ahead of the court's announcement, which follows a recommendation from ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that Beshir be indicted for genocide and war crimes over the conflict in Darfur.
"With regard to the international presence in the form of UAMID, of the U.N. mission in Sudan, of embassies... as long as they stick to their mandate their presence is welcomed in Sudan," foreign ministry under secretary Mutrif Siddiq said earlier this week.
"But any deviation from the mandate this will trigger reaction from the government of Sudan."
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Thursday February 19th, 2009 / 13h56
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فتحي البحيري
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست