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Preparations underway for UN-AU Mission to pull out of Darfur

Xinhua, February 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

A tripartite working group involving the UN, AU and the Sudanese government has been formed to prepare for the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to leave the region, UNAMID announced on Thursday.

"The United Nations and the African Union officials met in Khartoum on Feb. 15 to 18 to continue discussions with the Sudanese government on UNAMID's eventual exit from Darfur," according to a UNAMID statement.

It's expected that the joint working group will begin its task in early March to prepare UNAMID's exit from Darfur on "stable and secure conditions," the statement added.

UNAMID will continue focusing on its three strategic priorities, including protection of civilians, mediation between the government and non-signatory armed movements, and support to local conflict mediation.

UNAMID was established by the UN Security Council in 2007 to protect civilians and help ensure humanitarian assistance in Darfur, where fighting between rebel groups and government forces, with its allied militia, has led to the deaths of about 300,000 people and displaced nearly two million over the past 10 years, a recent UN report said.

Khartoum has, however, many justifications to demand the exit of the mission, according to Sudanese officials, as they believe that UNAMID has failed to fulfill its task and become a burden for the Sudanese government instead.

UNAMID is considered the second biggest peacekeeping mission in the world, after the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It's consisted of over 20,000 personnel of military, police and civilian components, with a budget of 1.4 million U.S. dollars in 2013. Endit