AU, UN to deploy 80 % of agreed hybrid peacekeepers soon
Posted by africanpress on October 16, 2008
The African Union (AU) Commission and the UN agreed for the deployment of 80 % of the agreed 19,000 peacekeeping forces to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan, APA learnt here on Wednesday.
The announcement was made after the Chairperson of the AU Commission Jean Ping held talks with the UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy Monday in Addis Ababa, sources informed APA.
“They -AU and UN- expressed their determination to keep working together for the deployment, in the coming months, of at least 80% of the authorized force,” AU informed APA today (Wednesday).
As part of this agreement between the AU and UN, they called on all Sudanese parties to extend full cooperation to the mediation being undertaken by AU-UN Joint Chief Mediator Bassole to allow him to re-energize the political process in Darfur.
It could be recalled that both the AU and UN agreed last year to deploy around 19,000 peacekeeping forces after several negotiation with the Sudanese government.
At the beginning of 2008, the hybrid forces started to deploy in Darfur, replacing the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) which was there since 2004.
Currently, the hybrid force has around 9,000 peacekeeping forces on the ground, a number which is expected to rise to 19,000 by the end of 2008.
The AU Chairperson ond the UN Under-Secretary, according to the AU, have also exchanged views on the South Sudan, Darfur and Somalia issues.
With regard to South Sudan, the two officials agreed that the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) should take all the necessary steps to fully implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
In this regard, they urged “all the parties to the CPA to do their utmost to address the outstanding issues and ensure the successful implementation of the CPA, in both letter and spirit, in order to promote a lasting peace in the Sudan.”
———————–
API/Source.apa
