Journalists taking notes during the press conference. Photo by Albert González Farran

Near verbatim transcription of the question-and-answer session at the press conference by UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari in Khartoum, 12 April 2012

Question 1: How do you see the coalition of armed movements with the SPLM army as they are now planning to topple the government of Sudan and how do you evaluate this and what is the impact of this coalition on  the peace process in Darfur?

Question 2:  Please elaborate on the security situation in Darfur, are kidnappings and abductions still going on? These killings also involved your people, who were killed. Please give us figures on people killed so far, and please give us information on the situation of the IDPs.

Question 3: I’d like more details on the Kabkabiya incident. We have reports on skirmishes between your own guards at the base and civilians, which led to some injuries. Please clarify this?

JSR Gambari: As you know there was apparently a decision in Kabkabiya by the local authorities to relocate the market. Anyone knows, particularly in Africa, that markets and market women are very sensitive issues. Apparently the decision to relocate this market was not preceded by extensive consultations that perhaps were needed for handling such sensitive issues. In any case it was done and there were protests by the community against the relocation and as a result there were some shootings. Now what the preliminary investigation shows, the bodies of those killed in that initial contact between the protestors and the authorities were taken to the gates of our team site in Kabkabiya  for two reasons:  first to show the displeasure of the community towards this incident and secondly, there was the belief that the locality commissioner was actually hiding in our team site. Of course this was not the case. The demonstrators were armed. They were not protesting peacefully, and our peacekeepers acted in self defense and to try to control the crowd. They asked for reinforcement. We came, and as a result…. of which some more people were injured and a couple more killed.

Immediately after this happened I flew to Kabkabiya in the company of Dr. Tijane Seisi, received a thorough briefing from the peacekeepers, met with the shartai, the umdas and other community leaders. I appealed for calm and I offered on behalf of UNAMID, technical assistance to mediate the dispute and also to continue the efforts of UNAMID to bring the national police in riot control so that demonstrations do not end in fatalities, as we have done in the April elections of 2010. I want to add that we are extremely saddened by the loss of life. Our peacekeepers acted in self defense. The shartais and umdas assured us that the people had no problems with UNAMID and I assured them we would work together to identify the root causes of the disturbance and to prevent any reoccurrence.

I also sent a multi disciplinary team to Kabkabiya on 31 March. They went to discuss the situation and to ensure civilians will be protected.  I also asked the Government of Sudan to join UNAMID in a full joint investigation and I hope this will take place soon.

With regards to the question on the situation in Darfur: What we have witnessed is the decline in direct confrontation between Sudanese forces and armed movements in 2011 compared with 2010. That does not mean that all fighting has ceased, in fact in some parts of Darfur such as the Jebel Marra area there has been continuous fighting and clashes…and some aerial attacks. Nonetheless it’s fair to say and we’ve documented,  the number of fatalities arising from those direct clashes have declined significantly in 2011 as compared to 2010. Similarly the fatalities arising from conflicts over resources within communities have also sharply declined. Having said that, unfortunately, criminality incidents have been on the rise, -- carjacking, kidnapping and attacks on peacekeepers. This is of serious concern to UNAMID, particularly when our peacekeeper are shot and killed in the performance of their legitimate dues.  I want to say once again that attacks on peacekeepers are a war crime, a violation of international humanitarian law, and have to be stopped.

One of the people kidnapped, a WFP colleague, has now been over 32 days in captivity and we continue to call for his safe and prompt release. On a slightly positive side, I’m happy to report the percentage of recovery of hijacked (UNAMID) vehicles has increased to 52 percent this year. So when our cars are carjacked, we don’t just give up. We work with local authorities and we have succeeded in recovering a larger number of vehicles.

With regards to the IDPs, again I’m very careful with figures but according to the figures from OCHA.  the number has declined from a high of 2.8 million to between 1.5 and 1.7 million. What has been documented is that since 2010 the number of IDPs who are voluntarily returning is slightly more than 100,000. My position which I’ve reiterated often is to have that number of people in IDP camps is a very unnatural situation, and we must not regard as natural a very abnormal situation. We need to ensure that there is more voluntary return and for that we need three things: first, security, and that is a joint responsibility of the Government and UNAMID; second some basic services, a clinic and schools-- and third a means of livelihood.

So all efforts must be geared to addressing the conditions that will ensure a bigger number of IDPs returning to their homes or to places of their choice.

The first question was about the Sudan Revolutionary Front, and the question was how I evaluate them and what is the impact on the situation in Darfur.

As you know the mandate of UNAMID is limited to Darfur: UNAMID is called the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur, and therefore the activities of the Sudan Revolutionary Front outside Darfur, --and especially the stated objective of overthrowing the regime in Khartoum--is outside our mandate.

I can only refer to the comments I read in the newspapers by members of the international community that condemn any efforts to overthrow the regime by force.

But my position is that Darfur should be part of the solution (for the conflict) between the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, and it should not be part of the problem of that relationship.

That is way on my regional tour, which I mentioned in my statement, I called leaders of the region to really appeal and encourage armed movements operating in Darfur to join the peace process, because there cannot be a military solution to the conflict in Darfur, and the conflict has to be ended by political settlement. So, why prolong the agony and suffering of the Darfuris, delaying participation in the peace process to find a political settlement to the conflict in Darfur?

Question 4: UNAMID has said before that that there are plans to reduce its budget and that this reduced budget will be used in development and recovery projects. What is the ceiling intended to be used for implementing development projects ?

Also, we learned that there are plans to reduce the number of UNAMID troops. Is there is any deadline for that to start?

You have said that there was increase in UNAMID patrols from 100 to 160 per day and also covering larger geographic areas. Since you have said there is an improvement in the security situation, why did you increase the number of patrols?

Question 5: On the background to the recent incident in Kabkabia, the blocking of 37 UNAMID personnel in an area near El Geneina and the allegations by armed movements that UNAMID has violated its mandate by training Government of Sudan police--when they are part of the problem,--and (there have been allegations) that there is a personal problem with the head of the Mission, don’t you think that UNAMID has become part of the problem?

Question 6: Mr. Gambari don’t you think that the support of South Sudan to the Darfur rebel movements is hampering the comprehensive solution in Darfur and will wreck the success of the Doha Document?  Don’t you think that you may need to go on another African mediation trip, especially to Juba?

JSR Gambari: Let me start with the question of the budget. These are very tough moments for all the members of the UN, and peacekeeping budgets are very expensive. As you know, UNAMID is the biggest international peacekeeping mission and it’s also the most expensive. And it has been mandated by the UN to cut across the board the budget of the Organization.  We just went to defend the budget proposal at the ACABQ (which is the United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions). It is the most powerful body on finance in the United Nations. (The meeting)  took place the last Thursday and we presented a budget that is US $1.5 billion, which already represents a 10% cut of the (UNAMID) budget of last year.

And we hope that there will not be deeper cuts. But whatever money is saved will be returned to Member States of the Organization as savings, as is up to them where to put these savings.

At the last Tripartite Mechanism which took place in Addis Ababa on 28  March, involving the Government of Sudan, the African Union and the United Nations, the Government of Sudan was very clear that it would like to see more savings being used in supporting development and early recovery.

I want to assure that UNAMID will continue to encourage Member States to support development and early recovery, and to work with the UN Country Team in this regard. And I also want to say that UNAMID is working very closely with the Government of Qatar, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and others, encouraging them, working under the leadership of the UN Country Team to support programmes of early recovery and development in Darfur.

On the reduction of troops, it is also mandated by the UN Security Council to reduce number of uniformed personnel in UNAMID. And not just UNAMID, but all peacekeeping missions over the world.

As a result, very high-level visits came from New York, accompanied by delegations from the African Union. They talked with us, and with the Government, on how to make what we have to work better, how to reconfigure our troops so they can perform much better with perhaps fewer resources.

The Force Commander is on top of the issue. He worked with them and a final report is going to the Security Council by the end of April, and then we will know how this will affect the reconfiguration of our forces and any possible reduction of our assets and on personnel.

The other question was, if the situation is improving in Darfur, why we are increasing our patrols from 100 to 160?

The answer is that we don’t have a comprehensive peace yet. We have the basis, which is the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, but until we have all armed movements joining  the peace process, the mandate remains the protection of civilians and the facilitation of delivery of humanitarian assistance.

I also mentioned that carjacking, criminality, attacking our troops,… as long as these activities continue, we have to increase our patrols to give more confidence to the people and to discourage any acts of criminality.

As a matter of fact, I tasked the military and police to try to increase further our patrols, I’m hoping that by the end of this year we may get close to 200 a day.

The second set of questions relate to the training, our efforts to train the national police.  And the question is: are we not exceeding our mandate? And the answer is no, we are not.

If our principal common job is the protection of civilians, why would it  not be within our mandate to try to see that the national police handle riots or demonstrations in ways that will save lives, not to  more loss of lives.

And also we are working with the police on joint patrols to apprehend those who carjack us, to apprehend those who are attacking our peacekeepers, to apprehend those who kidnap international workers. It is in the best interest of UNAMID, it’s in the best interest of international personnel.. and we need to do the best we can in capacity-building for those tasks that are related to our mandate, i.e. the protection of civilians. And we have to be able to protect ourselves and deliver humanitarian assistance to those who are in need.

There was also the question on South Sudanese support the armed movements. It’s not only UNAMID saying that. Members of the international community have said this publicly to discourage the Government of the South Sudan from supporting armed movements in Darfur, because it’s not in the interest of peace, and it’s not in the interest of promoting good relations between the two republics, Sudan and South Sudan.

Because (with such) support, it will not encourage the armed movements to opt for the political solution and to abandon the war option. We want the DDPD to be strengthened and not weakened, and the best way is to have an inclusive peace agreement. It’s to encourage all movements to join the peace process. And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to SLA/Abdul Wahid, to JEM and to Minni Minawi to really give a peace a chance, to talk, to abandon the option of war, and I also call on the Government of Sudan to be flexible to allow those who want to come to the peace process to do so.

The last question is am I ready to pack my bags and go to Juba to help to de-escalate the tension and the conflict between the two great republics.

It is not in my mind to do so: as much as  I regret the escalation of the conflict, as much as I regret the suffering that comes from the new conflict, as much as I am saddened by the fact that the republics of Sudan and South Sudan should be concentrating on economic development, and on the welfare of the people… I regret it but it’s not in my mind to try to intervene on this matter.

In any case, others are handling this matter: the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, chaired by the former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, the African Union, the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Mr. Haile Menkerios-- all of them are handling this matter.

Finally, about my personal situation as leader of UNAMID: I have learned from the years of experience, in the service of my own country, first as Foreign Minister, and later as Ambassador to the UN and as an international civil servant at the UN, that if you are not criticized it means that you are not doing very much.

I am very used to criticism, sometimes from the Government, sometimes from the armed movements, sometimes by both. And, as I believe an American president once said, if you cannot stand the heat,  don’t go to the kitchen. I am in the kitchen for peace and I can stand the heat.

But to conclude, I have no intention to resign, because the people who appointed me have not indicated that I should.

And the second thing is that I am actually in touch with all the movements, including as recently as Monday, and we talked, because they realize that I’m the Joint Chief Mediator ad interim and the Head of UNAMID and I will continue to do my job, and to continue to hold up  open hands and an open mind and to continue to engage with them for the sake of the people of Darfur.

And I want to thank my colleagues who are here, dedicating themselves as UNAMID, risking their lives every day. We lost 37 peacekeepers in the last few years,  and we will continue to do so for the sake of the people of Darfur, and on behalf of two international organizations which is unique. We are the only mission jointly mandated by the African Union and the United Nations, and we will continue to implement our mandate to the best of our ability. I am privileged, I am proud and honored to be the Head of UNAMID and to serve as Joint Chief Mediator.