Roundup: Sudan suits against UN mission over charges of killing civilians

After about a week of exchanged statements between Sudan government and the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Khartoum filed lawsuits accusing the mission of killing civilians in Darfur.

The Sudanese authorities said recently that they have decided to file criminal suits against the UNAMID which Khartoum accused of killing seven civilians at Kass locality in Sudan's South Darfur State, while the mission said it was in a state of self-defense.

Amid the contradictive statements about what has happened, analysts say tensions are mounting between the two sides which opens the door before all possibilities.

Abdalla Hassan, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua that "the recent confrontation between Sudan and UNAMID came after a series of events and accusations directed by Khartoum to the mission starting with violation of mandate, rape accusations, supporting anti-government protests and ending with accusations of killing civilians."

"All these accusations indicated that the relationship between Khartoum and UNAMID has reached a stage of no return. This opens the door before all possibilities, unless the UNAMID partners, the United Nations and the African Union, have managed to reach understandings with Khartoum," he noted.

Khartoum seems insistent to see UNAMID leave Darfur through an exit strategy that it has been studying with the United Nations and the African Union.

Khartoum says it has many justifications to demand the mission's exit, including that UNAMID has failed to fulfill its task and become a burden for the Sudanese government.

In this connection, Abdul-Karim Mahdi, another Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua that "for over eight years, UNAMID has failed to implement its mandate and left no sign on the ground in Darfur."

Mahdi believes that the recent accusations of killing civilians in Darfur constituted a great barrier in the mission's relationship with the Sudanese government.

"Under such circumstances, UNAMID's exit from Darfur seems logical, but won't be easy as UNAMID is one of the biggest peacekeeping missions in the world and its exit would need prolonged and complicated measures," noted Mahdi.

The recent crisis between the mission and the government broke out last week when UNAMID troops opened fire on a tribal gathering at Kass area in Sudan's South Darfur State, saying that the troops were attacked by gunmen, while Khartoum said the tribesmen were looking for stolen cattle.

In addition, the mission reiterated in a statement that its peacekeepers responded to two attacks against them by armed men in Kass, South Darfur, late last month.

"In both incidents, UNAMID troops returned fire but did not initiate any shooting; they only acted to protect themselves," said UNAMID Acting Joint Special Representative Abiodun Bashua in the release.

The confrontation was not confined to the government and UNAMID alone where both the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Peace and Security Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma condemned the attack against UNAMID and urged the Sudanese government to bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible.

However, Khartoum regarded in a statement the stance of the UN and the African Union as an attempt to cover up the "heinous crime" committed by UNAMID in Darfur.

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

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