El Fasher, 31 March 2009 -- Representatives from the Government of Sudan (GoS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) today held the fifth meeting of the Tripartite Committee on UNAMID.

The meeting focused on issues relating to UNAMID deployment that require further attention and follow-up, and ways of facilitating the work of UNAMID in Darfur.

The participants noted that the deployment of UNAMID military forces, including troops, officers and military observers, has reached 67 per cent as of the end of March.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, UN Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Susana Malcorra said the steady increase in deployment over the past year was an indication of the success of the regular Tripartite Committee meetings.

At today’s meeting the Government of Sudan also agreed that UNAMID will have custody of the assets of the international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) whose licences to operate in Sudan were revoked earlier this month until a final solution can be reached on the issue between the Government and the INGOs.

The participants agreed the next Tripartite Committee meeting will be in Darfur in early June.

Lieutenant General Majzoub Al Badawi, Director of the National Technical Mechanism for Peacekeeping Operations in Darfur, led the GoS delegation. The AU Peace and Security Commissioner, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, and Ms. Malcorra led their organizations’ respective delegations, while UNAMID was represented by the AU-UN Joint Special Representative, Mr. Rodolphe Adada.

Before the meeting, the delegations paid a courtesy call on the Wali (Governor) of North Darfur, Mr. Othman Kibir, at his office in El Fasher. The Wali expressed appreciation for the work of UNAMID.

While in El Fasher, the AU/UN/GoS delegation also visited the site of the new UNAMID headquarters. Ms. Malcorra is scheduled to visit South Darfur tomorrow.