Situation worsening, says chief peacekeeper

The number of peacekeeping troops on the ground falls far short of the 26,000 blue helmets authorised by the Security Council last year.

Less than 12,500 uniformed personnel, including troops, military observers and police officers, are in place across Darfur and the mission is also short of almost half of the civilian staff it requires to be at full capacity, with just under 3,000 posts recruited.

Mr LeRoy underscored the need for member states to provide the units and equipment previously pledged to Unamid, including 18 helicopters and additional units dealing with logistics, heavy transport, medium transport and aerial reconnaissance.

“I reiterate my appeal to Council members to urge troop and police contributing countries in a position to provide these capabilities to do so without further delay,” he said, adding that “Deploying Unamid to its authorised strength as it endeavours to undertake its mandated activities has been, and remains, our priority.”

Emphasising that only a sustainable political settlement between the parties can bring peace to Darfur, Mr LeRoy said, “It is, therefore, deeply regrettable that another year has passed while the parties continue to engage in military action rather than investing themselves fully in political negotiations.”

Susana Malcorra, Undersecretary-General for Field Support, told the Council that she believed Unamid can reach the target of 60 per cent deployment by the end of this year, with the possible exception of around 200 unarmed police officers, because of the volatile security situation in Darfur.

“We have set ourselves a deadline of reaching 80 per cent deployment by the end of March and the challenges we face in reaching this goal are by now well known,” said Ms. Malcorra.

“In this regard, I would like to state that the readiness of troop contributing countries and police contributing countries to deploy military and formed police units will be a particularly important factor in our collective efforts to finally bring UNAMID to its authorised strength,” she added.