FIRST PHASE OF EX-COMBATANTS’ DEMOBILIZATION WRAPS UP IN SUDAN – UN

Thousands of former fighters have taken part in the first phase of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme, marking a key milestone for the 2005 agreement that ended Sudan's north-south civil war, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country reported today.

The last of over 5,600 ex-combatants earmarked for demobilization were processed yesterday in the first phase of the DDR scheme in Blue Nile state, in Sudan's east, according to the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which celebrated the achievement in a brief ceremony.

The joint North and South Sudan DDR commissions, along with UNMIS, the UN Development Programme UNDP, World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), are assisting with the process in Blue Nile.

The DDR initiative seeks to ensure that demobilized combatants are properly reintegrated into civilian life, receiving packages including livestock and vocational training. Monitoring is also a crucial component to prevent former fighters from sliding back into violence.

The DDR commissions have agreed to jointly process caseloads in Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan and Abyei, before expanding to other areas under the 2005 pact, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Other key benchmarks of the treaty include border demarcation and preparations for national elections in 2010 and a referendum on the final status of areas of southern Sudan in 2011.

One-third of ex-combatants demobilized in Blue Nile have already started receiving counseling as a first step to reintegrate into civilian life.

Up to 180,000 former fighters from the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Popular Defence Forces and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) will be demobilized, and the first stages will target mostly those with special needs, including the old and infirm, as well as women and children associated with armed forces or groups.

The multi-year scheme is being led jointly by the DDR commissions, with financial and technical support from the UN.

But UNMIS pointed out that funding continues to be a major challenge. Some $430 million is required over three years, but only $88 million was pledged at the last donor conference held in Juba earlier this year.

In a related development, the UN today welcomed the donation of 22 vehicles by the European Commission, which will be used by the DDR commissions to help monitor participants transition into civilian life.

"The progress made in the past year on DDR has become one of the success stories of CPA implementation," UNDP Country Director Jorgen Lissner said at a ceremony in the capital, Khartoum.

The cars will be used to allow case workers to cover areas of reintegration and provide logistical support for the daily operations of the commissions.
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NEXT YEAR’S LANDMARK ELECTIONS POSE MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR SUDAN – UN OFFICIAL

Local election authorities in the Sudan face a complex challenge in holding the conflict-ridden country's first multi-party polls in decades, the top United Nations official tasked with assisting in the voting process warned today.

The April 2010 elections are a major milestone in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the pact which ended 20 years of fighting between the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) separatists in the south and the national Government in the north, said Ray Kennedy, Chief Electoral Affairs Office with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

"UNMIS is here to support the process," Mr. Kennedy told reporters in Khartoum, stressing that the "responsibility for planning, organizing, and conducting these elections rests with the Sudanese authority established for that purpose, namely the National Elections Commission [NEC]."

Highlighting the difficulties in organizing the elections, Mr. Kennedy said that the "size and physical landscape of the country, together with weak infrastructure in large parts of the county, would present a challenge for any election management body."

He added that polling for six offices at the same time – President of the Republic, President of the Government of Southern Sudan, state governors, the National Assembly, the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, and State Assemblies – along with different elections taking place in different parts of the country is a complex task.

"And the time pressures that the NEC is under with the election law being passed two and a half years late and the establishment of the NEC itself taking far longer than envisioned in the CPA and in the National Elections Act" only adds to the complexities, said Mr. Kennedy.

"Together, all of these factors make these elections some of the most complex and challenging on record," he stressed.

UNMIS has over 100 staff on the ground, with teams in Khartoum, El Fasher (capital of North Darfur), and each of the 10 states of Southern Sudan, noted Mr. Kennedy. He added that by late September, election support teams will also be established in each state in the north in response to the NEC's request for support in all of Sudan's 25 states.

The assistance UNMIS provides the NEC includes advice on procedures for voter registration, nominations, polling, counting, and the tabulation and announcement of results, as well as developing training on voter education, said Mr. Kennedy.

"Based on a request from NEC to assist them with logistics, the mission has asked for additional helicopters to help move registration materials, voter education materials, ballots, and ballot boxes around the country and we are awaiting approval of that request," he said. "According to our calculations, we could be asked to assist with the transportation of 7.5 million kilogrammes of election material."

A referendum on independence for Southern Sudan – where at least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the borders during the 20 years of one of Africa's bloodiest civil wars – is slated for 2011, to follow next year's national elections.
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SECURITY COUNCIL DEPLORES DEADLY ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Security Council members today condemned the "grave attacks" in southern Sudan this weekend that have killed at least 185 people, many of them women and children.

Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said the attacks were especially concerning given that they seemed to target women and children and involved the use of sophisticated weaponry.

The killings took place on Sunday in Akobo in Jonglei state and the victims reportedly include more than 100 women and children. At least 60 people from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also reported dead as a result of the attacks.

Mr. Sawers, speaking on behalf of Council members, stressed the need for the protection of civilians and measures to ensure humanitarian relief can reach those people in need.

They also said they support the joint efforts of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (<"http://unmis.unmissions.org/">UNMIS), the Government of Southern Sudan and local authorities to investigate the causes of the violence and to prevent any retaliatory attacks.

If the attacks continue, Mr. Sawers warned, they could jeopardize the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the wide-ranging pact from 2005 that ended the long-running and brutal Sudanese civil war between north and south.

Today's remarks from the Council echoed a statement issued yesterday by a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which he voiced extreme concern at the situation and directed UN officials to provide aid and assistance to the victims of the violence.

UN EXTENDS AID TO VICTIMS OF DEADLY NEW VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today ordered United Nations officials to extend all possible assistance to the victims of the latest "heinous" surge of violence in southern Sudan, where 161 people, including 100 women and children, were reported to have been killed yesterday.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban voiced his "extreme concern" at the killing in Akobo in Jonglei state, where 50 men and 11 soldiers from the regional Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also killed.

Southern Sudan was the scene of one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars, in which at least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the borders, until a peace agreement in 2005 ended the 20 years of fighting between southern separatists and the national Government in the north. A referendum on independence for the south is expected to be held in 2011, following national elections next year.

More recently, violence has flared periodically from various quarters, with Mr. Ban warning last month that escalating inter-tribal fighting was jeopardizing the stability of the entire country and putting at risk key milestones in implementing the 2005 pact, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Attacks by the notorious Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), have also wrought havoc in border regions in the south.

In his statement today condemning the latest violence, Mr. Ban directed the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) "to extend all possible assistance to those affected by this heinous act and work with local authorities to restore calm."

He called on the regional Government of Southern Sudan "to bring to justice those responsible for these events and take the necessary measures to protect civilians across Southern Sudan."
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TRIBAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN SUDAN UNDERMINES PEACE AGREEMENT, UN REPORTS

Escalating inter-tribal violence in Southern Sudan is jeopardizing the stability of the entire country, and key milestones in implementing the peace pact that ended the long-running north-south civil war are at risk, the United Nations warned today.

In his latest report on the work of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the security situation in the south has deteriorated since April, with long-simmering disputes sparking "alarming waves of violence [and] at times triggering vicious cycles of attack."

At least 200 civilians have been killed in the clashes, as well as dozens of members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the former southern rebel group that signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 to end the civil war.

Mr. Ban said the future of the CPA depends largely on the relationship between the SPLA and the National Congress Party (NCP), which signed the agreement and formed a Government of National Unity in Khartoum.

"Their action or inaction in the coming months will determine whether the outstanding benchmarks," such as elections scheduled for next year and a subsequent referendum that could result in the secession of southern Sudan, can be upheld.

He urged both sides to "take steps to engage in meaningful dialogue and reach agreement on outstanding issues."

One of those issues is the status of Abyei, an oil-rich area in the centre of the country that has been contested by north and south and was the scene of deadly clashes last year that forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei is preparing to give its decision on the issue shortly, and in today's report, Mr. Ban said he welcomed the commitment by both sides to accept and peacefully implement whatever the court decides.

"This commitment would now have to be translated into requisite orders to the security apparatus on the ground and to the local leadership and communities who may feel disenfranchised by the arbitration decision.

"Crucially, the Abyei area needs a fully funded and functional civilian administration irrespective of the result of the arbitration and I urge the parties to take all steps needed to achieve this."

Next year's planned national elections are vital, the report noted, "for the process of democratic transformation throughout" the country and it stressed the importance of peaceful, transparent and credible polls.

Mr. Ban also welcomed recent joint efforts by the Government, the UN and its aid partners to reduce the most critical humanitarian gaps created by the expulsion in March of many international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

But he added that "current levels of assistance in some areas remain below the necessary standards and the humanitarian community remains watchful of the onset of the rainy season."
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EFFORTS TO DISARM SUDANESE EX-COMBATANTS MAKING HEADWAY, REPORTS UN OFFICIAL

The United Nations reports that progress is being made in the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of soldiers in north and south Sudan, a key component of the 2005 agreement that ended the country's 21-year civil war.

"The Sudanese DDR programme is unique and potentially the largest and most complex ever undertaken," Adriaan Verheul, Chief of the DDR Unit at the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), told a news conference in Khartoum today.

"Some 180,000 members of the armed forces and women who have helped the armed forces will be given the possibility to make a living as a civilian. Any child soldiers will be reunited with their families," he added.

Mr. Verheul said that more than 5,000 soldiers have now gone through the demobilization process, which was launched in February.

The DDR process is a key component of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

Other key benchmarks of the pact include border demarcation and preparations for national elections in 2010 and a referendum on the final status of areas of Southern Sudan in 2011.

The goal of the reintegration of the soldiers is two-fold, noted Mr. Verheul. One is to provide people who have fought for their country with an exit from military life with a degree of dignity, while the other is to contribute to stability, which in itself will help generate greater trust and provides the foundation for peace and development.

"We hope that DDR would contribute to a better and more positive climate for the elections and the referendum," he stated. "But let us start with an overall contribution to the situation on the ground."

UNMIS is tasked with assisting the parties and the people of Sudan in fulfilling their commitments under the CPA.
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SUDAN: UN ENVOY WARNS OF CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF PEACE ACCORD

SUDAN: UN ENVOY WARNS OF CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF PEACE ACCORD
New York, Jun 4 2009 4:00PM
The top United Nations envoy to Sudan has warned that although much progress has been made in healing the strife-torn country's divides, difficulties remain, ahead of a meeting in the United States on the issue.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Ashraf Qazi, said that many challenges face the signatories to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a 21-year civil war between north and south Sudan.

Mr. Qazi, who also heads the UN Mission in Sudan (<"http://www.unmis.org/english/en-main.htm">UNMIS), was speaking after a meeting on Wednesday with the President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and the First Vice-President of Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit.

"I had a very good meeting with the President and this is an important time because we all are preparing for the conference that will take place in Washington later this month," said Mr. Qazi during his one-day visit to Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan.

"The United States has taken the initiative to act in concert with the international community to help both signatories implement the CPA on schedule because the CPA time period will be completed in 2011," he added.

In the meeting, Mr. Qazi discussed the security situation in the south, elections, the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme for ex-combatants, and the preparations for the 2011 referendum on whether the South should secede or remain united with the rest of the country.

The President expressed appreciation for the role of UNMIS, which recently dispatched some 120 civilian, military and police personnel to Jonglei State, where thousands were taking refuge after inter-tribal violence left hundreds dead, including many women and children.
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UN-AU PEACEKEEPING FORCE CARRIES OUT ANTI-BANDITRY PATROLS IN DARFUR

In spite of the overall calm security situation, the United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region is continuing its patrols in the face of banditry activities.

The military forces and police of the mission, known as UNAMID, have conducted dozens of patrols in and around villages sheltering internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Sudanese police reported renewed fighting between two tribes over a disputed water point last week.

UNAMID has been distributing 45,000 litres of water a day to the Zam Zam camp, which continues to receive new waves of IDPs. Distributions began on 11 March to support non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help those who have just arrived at the camp.

The mission intends to continue its distributions – which total nearly 500,000 litres to date – until a long-term solution is found.

For its part, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in conjunction with aid partners and the Government of Sudan, has dug nine shallow wells and drilled three boreholes as water sources for the Zam Zam camp.

Sudan decided to suspend 13 NGOs on 4 March, immediately after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir for alleged war crimes. The operations of three national NGOs have also been suspended.

In a letter sent to the leaders of the so-called Group of 20 (G20) nations ahead of their summit next week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concerns about the expulsion of the aid groups, which assist nearly five million Darfurians in need, over half of whom are IDPs.

Addressing the General Assembly in an informal meeting today, Mr. Ban said that in the wake of the Government's decision to expel the NGOs, the UN and Sudanese authorities have agreed to assess the situation in three states in Darfur to identify aid gaps. He stressed that capacity on the ground is insufficient to sustain relief activities in both the short and medium term.

Last week, a senior UN humanitarian official called on the Government to respect existing agreements and its own laws on the operation of relief groups in Darfur, with the ousting of the 13 aid agencies resulting in "significant" threats to the dependent population.

"We want to engage in transparent and productive dialogue with the Government based on these laws and agreements," Rashid Khalikov, Director of the New York section of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the Security Council.

He noted with additional concern that on 15 March, Mr. Al-Bashir spoke of the possible departure of all foreign humanitarian organizations in Sudan in a year's time, even if the violence and displacement in Darfur continues.

An estimated 300,000 people have died and another 3 million have been displaced in the western region of Sudan, where rebels have been fighting Government forces and allied Arab militiamen, known as the Janjaweed, since 2003. Around 4.7 million people in the region depend on lifesaving aid.

Mr. Khalikov said the expulsion of the 13 organizations had been followed by an increase in violence against UNAMID and aid groups, along with the seizure of humanitarian assets by the Government.

In a related development, Major General Pagan Jung Thapa, Force Commander of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), visited UNAMID headquarters yesterday to meet with his UNAMID counterpart, General Martin Luther Agwai, and with AU-UN Joint Representative Rodolphe Adada to discuss issues of cooperation and collaboration.
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BLUE HELMETS, AID WORKERS MUST ‘GREEN’ THEIR OPERATIONS – UN

BLUE HELMETS, AID WORKERS MUST 'GREEN' THEIR OPERATIONS – UN
New York, Mar 11 2009 10:00AM

Military and civilian aid experts at a United Nations-backed meeting today emphasized the need for a peacekeepers and aid agencies to take a 'green' approach in their work to protect the environment and the long-term livelihoods of communities affected by conflict.

Studies have shown that the demand for such critical natural resources as wood and water by peacekeepers can often be significant, straining vulnerable environments.

But this demand could be considerably curbed through better planning and management – including the use of new technologies that guarantee water and energy efficiency as well as construction methods that minimize deforestation – and even play a part in recovery, development and peace consolidated in areas hit by hostilities.

International peacekeeping forces and aid organizations "have the responsibility to ensure that their presence and operations have a minimal ecological footprint and do not aggravate environmental degradation, which may be a dimension of the conflict," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The day-long gathering at the Nairobi headquarters of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was co-organized by the UN Department of Field Support (DFS), the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the Swedish Defence Research Agency and the Environmental Law Institute.

UNMIS, with the support of the Swedish Government, is investing $5 million in environmentally-friendly operations for its 10,000 troops in 25 bases. As part of this pilot programme, the Mission is using new ways of treating waste and using both water and energy more efficiently, with the goal of reducing the volume of waste by 60 per cent, water consumption by 30 per cent and energy expenditure by 25 per cent.

A new UNEP report, entitled "From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The Role of Natural Resources and the Environment," was presented at today's Nairobi's gathering.

The publication notes that at least 18 conflicts since 1990 have been triggered by the exploitation of natural resources, with at least 40 per cent of all civil clashes in the past six decades being linked to these resources.

It stresses that the way the environment is handled can influence post-conflict peacebuilding and stability.

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PEACEKEEPERS WILL STAY IN DARFUR EVEN IF SUDANESE PRESIDENT INDICTED – UN OFFICIAL

PEACEKEEPERS WILL STAY IN DARFUR EVEN IF SUDANESE PRESIDENT INDICTED – UN OFFICIAL
New York, Mar 2 2009 5:00PM
Whatever the International Criminal Court (ICC) decides on indicting the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes this Wednesday, the United Nations-African Union operation in Darfur (UNAMID) will continue its patrols protecting the local population, the chief of the peacekeeping said today.

"The Government would assume its full duty of protecting UN missions in Sudan against any negative impact that may result from ICC possible decision against the Sudanese political leadership," Alan Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the press in a wide-ranging briefing on the work of the 18 UN peacekeeping missions around the world.

Stressing that the UN did not have any information on whether the ICC will issue an arrest warrant, Mr. Le Roy said that the pre-trial chamber of the Court in The Hague will announce its decision on 4 March.

"We are not informed of their final decision. Anyone can guess," said Mr. Le Roy. "Of course, we are making some plans as any country would have contingency planning to try to react to any situation," he said of the 25,000 personnel deployed in the Sudan that could be affected by the ICC decision.

Mr. Le Roy underscored, however, that there is no plan in place to scale down or move the two UN peacekeeping missions in the Sudan, the UN mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) and UNAMID.

As part of his briefing of the state of peacekeeping for the some 112,000 UN blue helmets on the ground, Mr. Le Roy touched on the challenges in Afghanistan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

On the intention of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to bring forward the planned 20 August national elections, Mr. Le Roy considered it would be very difficult to organize the logistics and security before July, and that there must be a consensus on the date of the election among Afghan political parties in conformity with the constitution.

In the eastern region of the DRC, Mr. Le Roy reported that the UN mission to vast African nation, MONUC, had provided technical and logistical support to the joint DRC and Rwandan military offensive aimed at ridding the region of the ethnic Hutu militia, Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR).

Now that the operation is over and Rwandan government forces have left the region, MONUC is tasked with helping the Government repatriate the remaining fighters of the FDLR, which has been involved in a recent flare-up of clashes mostly in North Kivu that caused some 250,000 civilians to flee their homes, in addition to the 800,000 already displaced by violence in recent years.

Mr. Le Roy was keen to highlight some peacekeeping successes, noting that the president of Timor-Leste, Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta, told the Security Council recently that without the UN mission, his country would have been in complete chaos.

"He even quoted that the UN mission got in Timor something like 75 [per cent] rate of approval and the Government had only 66 per cent," said Mr. Le Roy, stressing that "In Timor the UN is performing fully its mandate. The president of Timor said that clearly in front of the Security Council the other day."

Reporting on his visit to Haiti, Mr. Le Roy said that "100 per cent of the politicians I have met were all, all of them, praising the work of our UN mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, politically, on the humanitarian side [and] of course on the security side."

In Cité Soleil, the impoverished neighbourhood of the capital Port-au-Prince that was formerly controlled by gangs, people in the street told the peacekeeping chief that thanks to MINUSTAH they could walk in the streets day and night.

Highlighting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to the Caribbean nation next week with former United States President Bill Clinton, as well as the upcoming donor conference for Haiti, Mr. Le Roy spoke of the "allure of hope" in the impoverished country.
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TOP UN ENVOY URGES HALT TO SOUTH SUDAN FIGHTING

TOP UN ENVOY URGES HALT TO SOUTH SUDAN FIGHTING
New York, Feb 24 2009 4:00PM

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative in Sudan has called on all parties to immediately cease the fighting which erupted today in the southern town of Malakal, stressing the need to ensure the safety and security of civilians in the area.

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi also called on all concerned to "act responsibly to resolve their differences," according to a press statement issued by the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which was set up to support the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of north-south civil war in Sudan.

Mr. Qazi said it is particularly important for the military leadership of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to ensure that the Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) – which are combined SAF and SPLA forces – fulfilled their function as integrated units working together to protect civilians.

"UNMIS is actively engaged through the existing CPA mechanisms to bring about a quick and durable settlement of the confrontation in Malakal and to prevent any recurrence of such incidents," the statement added.

In his most recent report on Sudan, Mr. Ban warned that four years after the signing of the CPA, the overall security situation remains fragile and unpredictable as a 2011 referendum looms on whether the South should secede or remain united with the rest of the country.
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