Zalingei, 31 December 2020: On 31^st December, UNAMID’s Deputy Joint Special Representative (DJSR) Ms. Anita Kiki Gbeho met in her office in Zalingei with the Wali (Governor) of Central Darfur State, Mr. Adeeb Abdulrahman Yousif, to discuss issues pertaining to UNAMID’s drawdown and exit.

During the meeting, they agreed to establish hotlines and focal points by both parties to handle efficiently and timely, issues that may hinder a smooth drawdown process and full exit of the mission by 30 June 2021 as prescribed in the recent United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2559.

They further discussed on issues related to peaceful hand over of some UN assets to the government on behalf of the civilian end users.

“We are going to prepare our people so that the handover of the assets will be peaceful. We shall make them know it is for their use and benefit,” said Mr. Yousif.

On her part, the DJSR said: “The UN existed in Sudan before UNAMID, the UN was in Sudan with the UNAMID and…the UN will still be in Sudan after the UNAMID.”

Ms. Gbeho was referring to the continued presence of the UN Country Team and the incoming new political mission called United Nations Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission (UNITAMS).

Last week, the UNSC decided to terminate UNAMID’s mandate by 31 December 2020 after 13 years of operation in Darfur. However, the mission has been given six months from 1 January 2021 to drawdown and exit.

The mission was deployed in 2007 following the civil war that erupted in 2003 where local rebel Movements battled against the Federal government in Khartoum citing marginalization.