Monitors call for UN access to Darfur

Sudan: UN peacekeepers must have unrestricted access within Sudan's troubled Darfur region, international monitors overseeing a peace deal for the area said on Monday.

The call came after the United Nations in New York said last week the government in Khartoum was “severely” restricting movement of the UN's blue-helmeted troops in Darfur, where there has been conflict since 2003.

Under the peace deal signed in Doha last July between the government and an alliance of rebel splinter factions, UNAMID is guaranteed “unimpeded freedom of movement in all areas and at all times,” said members of a commission, known as the Implementation Follow-up Commission (IFC), which monitors the pact.

“They expressed concern about reported restrictions of movements for UNAMID,” a statement by the Qatari chairman of the commission said.

UNAMID, based in the North Darfur state capital of El Fasher, is the joint African Union-United Nations Mission to the region. Its more than 17,000 troops and about 5,000 police have a mandate to protect civilians.

IFC urged parties to the Doha deal to “fulfill their obligations” of ensuring access.

The comments came at the close of the IFC's second meeting to review implementation of the Doha agreement. Along with Qatar, the IFC's membership includes diplomats from Western, Asian and Arab states.

The UN's peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told a UN Security Council meeting last week of “a sharp increase in restrictions of movement imposed on UNAMID by government authorities. AFP