Distinguished members of the diplomatic corps,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you to the third UNAMID press conference since I assumed the position of JSR. I will present a short overview and assessment of the situation in Darfur, following which I will be ready for any questions you may have.

As you are aware, over recent months and particularly in November and December 2010, the security situation in some parts of Darfur deteriorated. This was due largely to military clashes between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the forces of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Similarly, the deterioration in relations between the Parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement led to heavy military confrontations between SAF and the forces of the Sudan Liberation Army/MM (SLA/MM) in Khor Abeche, Dar Al Salam, Shangil Tobaya and Shaeria. Unfortunately, those clashes resulted in severe humanitarian consequences, including significant displacements, loss of lives and property. A considerable number of IDPs sought refuge in UNAMID Team Sites where military and Police personnel provided security, health services, food and other basic needs. Although the situation in these conflict-affected areas has improved and UNAMID has stepped up confidence building patrols in order to encourage gradual returns, several IDPs remain clustered around our Team Sites.

I am deeply concerned about these renewed clashes and have since made strong appeals to the Parties to cease further hostilities in the interest of ongoing peace efforts and the safety of the people of Darfur. I have particularly stressed that while armed confrontations may meet short term military objectives, they do not hold the solution to the achievement of durable and sustainable peace in Darfur. I am happy to inform that in my engagements with the Parties, I received further assurances of the willingness to remain focused on the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur.

UNAMID’s immediate priority is to focus on its protection of civilian responsibilities and in this regard, we have adopted a new approach on movement and access. I am happy to note that on this issue of the new approach, the Government of Sudan has shown a commendable willingness to cooperate with us in ensuring that we have the required access and freedom of movement to implement our mandate. Under the new approach, UNAMID shall continue to notify the GoS of its movement plans for coordination purposes but this would not in any way imply a request for permission to gain access to desired locations. While UNAMID is happy to receive government’s security advisories for these movements, the final decision would rest with UNAMID. The Government has made statements recognizing UNAMID’s right to move feely within its mandated areas of operation without any restrictions. I have requested for written guarantees to this effect and when received, UNAMID may present this to GoS security personnel in field locations where these restrictions usually occur.

UNAMID has also significantly stepped up its patrols aimed at providing security to civilians and stabilizing the situation in areas of conflict. UNAMID patrols have increased from 90 to 130 military and police patrols daily with additional surge capacity when required. For example between 1 January and 10 February 2011, over 6000 patrols were conducted, mostly to deter armed violence against civilians. UNAMID is also in the process of expanding and upgrading Teams Sites in order to extend protection cover to larger parts of Darfur. In this regard, UNAMID civilian personnel would be deployed to these sites to increase capacities of the military and police contingents in the implementation of a newly formulated Protection of Civilians Strategy.

Developed in conjunction with relevant members of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), the strategy aims to provide comprehensive strategic and operational guidance for the implementation of the Mission’s protection mandate. It would seek to ensure the following: (i) fulfillment by the Government, armed groups and other non-state actors of their responsibilities to protect civilians in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law; (ii) protection of civilians from physical acts of violence; (iii) freedom of access to populations at risk; and (iv) prevention of violations of human rights, and the provision of effective response, particularly in regard to women and children.  UNAMID is committed to respond robustly and proactively in all these areas. However, relative to the size of Darfur, the UNAMID force would appear limited. I therefore call upon all parties to the conflict to consider the harmful effects of armed violence against civilian populations and to extend to UNAMID maximum cooperation in ensuring their safety.

I am particularly delighted by the positive news coming out of Doha and the likelihood of imminent breakthrough and conclusion of a peace agreement with the participation of JEM. In this regard, I would like to commend the efforts of the Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassolé, the Government of Qatar, and the Parties, in ensuring this anticipated outcome. UNAMID continues to render support to JCM Bassolé and his team and remains engaged with the Parties in order to support a timely conclusion of a peace agreement.

UNAMID is also committed to fulfilling its responsibilities in the implementation of related agreements as specified in its mandate. It is in that regard and with support from the United Nations, the African Union and international partners that preliminary consultations and planning began with the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to launch the Darfur Political Process (DPP). The DPP can simply be described as the process of engaging a wide range of stakeholders in a dialogue process to build consensus on and to find solutions to the conflicts in Darfur. It is therefore envisaged that these broad based consultations and dialogues would enrich, build upon and deepen internal support, thereby broadening the legitimacy for the Doha outcome. This will greatly increase the chances for sustainable peace, reconciliation and recovery in Darfur.

The DPP is therefore not by any means an associated initiative of the GoS Darfur Strategy. Rather, what we expect from the Government of Sudan, at the state and local level, is to create an enabling environment to make the DPP and its outcome credible to those both at home and abroad. Hence, UNAMID is also engaging the government on the vital need to create this enabling environment for the people of Darfur and other relevant stakeholders to freely participate in the DPP. A joint committee has been tasked to work on this.  The DPP therefore deserves your support and encouragement if we are to ensure durable and irreversible peace in Darfur.

Sudan has witnessed a defining moment in history - the peaceful conduct of the referendum on southern Sudan.  UNAMID played its role by providing logistical support to the process in Darfur. I would like to congratulate the people of Sudan and commend the outstanding statesmanship of President Al Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit in leading the people of Sudan through this moment of history. I applaud the efforts of UNMIS, led by Special Representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Haile Menkerios, and international partners for the support and facilities provided in all stages of the process.  The efforts of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), led by former President Thabo Mbeki and the Secretary General’s Panel on the Referenda, led by former President Benjamin Mkapa are worthy of mention. Their steadfast engagement with the parties ensured progress on this delicate aspect of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

With the release of the results of the referendum and acceptance by the parties, including their declared commitment to a peaceful transition, a new dawn emerges in the history of North – South relations. However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you, representatives of the press, the international community and all parties in Sudan of the critical need to maintain a keen focus on Darfur and on the urgency of finding a lasting political settlement of the conflict.

Whether the transition of Southern Sudan into an independent nation remains peaceful or is fraught with conflict will have direct impact on Darfur, as Southern Darfur maintains a sizeable area of the disputed borders between North and South.  For the People of Darfur and UNAMID, our destinies are directly linked to the future outcome of North – South relations. It is therefore, partly in this regard, that I plan to convene the Third Retreat of Special Envoys in Nyala, South Darfur on 18 February. This retreat is aimed at bringing together all Special Envoys, representatives of diplomatic missions focused on Darfur and other international partners to take stock of developments in Darfur since the last Retreat in July 2010, and also to discuss the impact of the Referendum on Darfur. 

UNAMID and the UNCT have made considerable progress in coordination and cooperation to help the people of Darfur, where security situation permits, to begin the slow but steady progress to live normal lives. Working closely with relevant UN agencies and the GoS, modest but significant progress was recently achieved with the facilitation of voluntary returns of IDPs from South Darfur to West Darfur. We have been encouraged by the initial results and would continue to work with relevant stake holders to accommodate the growing numbers of IDPs who have expressed the wish to voluntarily leave the IDP camps. UNAMID is also working with relevant UNCT, such as UNICEF and WHO on related projects such as convening an international water conference to raise funds for water projects in Darfur and other early recovery initiatives to support a return to normalcy in some parts of Darfur.

I am also happy to note that during the recent Tripartite Mechanism meetings involving the Government of Sudan, the African Union and the United Nations in Addis Ababa on 3 February, approval was granted to UNAMID for the implementation of the “Bridging solution” for a UNAMID radio Frequency. A UNAMID radio station will not only serve the mission but would be mainly devoted to the needs of the people of Darfur. It would be a veritable means of promoting inclusive dialogue and dispelling misconceptions, particularly on efforts to achieve sustainable peace in Darfur. There was also a general agreement among all present at the Tripartite meeting on the need for the Doha process to conclude quickly and for the initial planning for the DPP to begin in earnest in order to ensure seamless transition and popular acceptance for the Doha outcome.   Subsequent meetings of the mechanism would be held at strategic and working levels.

I assumed the duties of JSR just over a year ago. It has been inspiring to serve with the very dedicated military, police and civilian staff who keep the mission running in some of the harshest of conditions.  More importantly it has been an honour and privilege to serve the people of Darfur on behalf of the United Nations and the African Union. UNAMID remains committed to robustly implement it core mandate and I call on all our partners to support the Mission in this crucial task.

I thank you very much for your attention and am available for your questions.

Question and answer session:

Q1: About the new approach to access, what was the old approach? Did your forces wait for clearance before going on Missions and if that is [the case], why did you because UNAMID is one of the biggest Missions in the world? Second question, now that there is this new approach can you confirm that there has been no stoppages this month? And that you now have free access to Jebel Marra for example? And, could you react to the expulsion of the INGO Médecins du Monde?

Q2: Why is it that the number of forces in UNAMID Mission is not completed until now.

Q3: Within your new strategy in Darfur or approach in Darfur are you going to pledge to interfere in conflicts and deter conflicts or are you are just going to be there writing reports and sending them?

Q4: My question is related to the fact that the JSR said there is an eminent conclusion or agreement coming from Doha.  Actually, Minni Minawi has stepped back and said he wants nothing to do with it. What is the position of UNAMID for impact for Minnawi leaving Doha?

JSR Gambari: Ok, I think there are enough questions for me to respond and let me do so and then we will seek for another set of questions.  First, the first set of questions from our colleagues from Reuters. The first question as I understand it is what was the old approach? Protection issues to the issue of freedom of movement and why was that approach in being and that’s the first question.

First, UNAMID forces took quite a long time for them to be deployed. As a matter of fact, the tripartite mechanism, that is the Government of Sudan, the African Union, and the United Nations, have been preoccupied with the issue of the deployment of UNAMID forces.  As I speak now however, I am happy to say that the Military were almost ninety per cent fully deployed. The civilian police about seventy four per cent and the Civilian about seventy two percent.  Nonetheless, we still need –we are short of utility helicopters, also our tactical helicopters came late in coming. They are now here and we have permission to fly them-including with weapons as and when necessary.  So the slowness in the deployment of our assets was one factor. The second, is that there was a mistaken view on the part of our own people that notification of the Government of Sudan on our movement was equivalent to seeking permission.  And thirdly there was a kind of mindset-too cautious you know even when we were attacked and killed, there wasn’t much of a response but all of this has changed.

So we are not seeking permission.  We are not going to be reckless with our forces but we intend to be more robust in implementing our mandate particularly according to the status of Forces agreement. And, you will see that in terms of ability to defend ourselves there are now fortunately, fewer direct attacks on our personnel.  The Sector West Commander is here, General Wade.  The last time we had an attack on our forces, sadly they killed three of our Rwandan Forces but we inflicted equal if not more damage on them. The idea is to defend ourselves so as to give confidence to our ability to provide protection to civilians and I believe it is working. I must also say that recent incidents in ZamZam camp and Shangil Tobaya, we have been able to push back on an effort to prevent us from doing our duty.

I cannot say in all honesty that there is no restriction on our movement but I believe compared with the total number of patrols we do a day-they are few and even where those restrictions occur, we challenge them and even when we retreat we go back and we are going to continue to go back until we access all the areas of our operation.

And I am sensing a greater willingness on the part of the Government to respect the implementation of our new approach.  As a matter of fact we are also working with the Government to have a Ceasefire even if it is for an initial limited period in Jebel Marra so that the areas that were previously not accessible, we would be able to access them. And particularly for the delivery of vaccination for polio, which will be jointly conducted by WHO and UNICEF.

With the recent expulsion or decision to expel Médecins du Monde in South Darfur, I consider that unfortunate in the sense that there was a mechanism agreed that before the state authorities take action like that they should have coordinated with the relevant United Nations and other agencies so that they can look into the substance of complaints and address them before such extreme actions are taken and I hope cooler heads will prevail and there will be second thoughts given to the issue of expulsion of any aid agency.

Very quickly, the second question, why is the number of forces not completed until now.  Well, it has been the reluctance of some of the troop contributing countries or police contributing countries to send the troops and also some of the difficulties in getting visas.  But as I said we are almost all fully deployed and so we are now ready to implement fully our new approach to protection of ci