Un Security Council Mission Heads To Chad
New York, Jun 9 2006 5:00PM
A delegation of United Nations Security Council members visiting Sudan and neighbouring countries held talks today with
officials in North Darfur for talks on security, humanitarian issues and gender-based violence.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the mission, led by the British Ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry, also met
with the UN country team and representatives of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Overall, three years of fighting in Darfur among government forces, pro-government militias and rebels have killed
scores of thousands of people and displaced some 2 million others amid charges of massacre, rape and other atrocities
against civilians.
A small African peacekeeping mission known as AMIS has reduced some of the violence in Darfur but more troops, equipment
and training are required to address the problems of the region, which is roughly the size of France.
The Security Council is considering a transition to a United Nations force to be deployed in conflict-wracked Darfur.
The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is already stationed in the southern part of the country helping to implement a peace
agreement that ended a separate conflict there.
The Council delegation was travelling to Chad’s capital, N’djamena, today and then on to refugee camps in Abeche and Goz
Beida sheltering those who fled the violence in Darfur. The members would also visit internally displaced Chadians.
The team is scheduled to go next to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where it will meet next Monday with
President Joseph Kabila and his vice-presidents, before returning to UN Headquarters in New York.
Meanwhile, the first wave of southern Sudanese refugees to return home from the DRC crossed the border at Morebo this
week, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. The convoy carried 224 of the 2,600 Sudanese
refugees who have been living in the DRC.
UNHCR noted that they have received only $10.6 million of the $75 million required for the repatriation process, which
usual includes travel, stopping at transit centres and giving the refugees tools, food and reintegration allowances.
The 21-year-long rebellion in southern Sudan destroyed roads, schools, boreholes and homes, killed hundreds of thousands
of people and displaced millions. UNHCR has been working in the region to clear roads of mines and rehabilitate
facilities for the returnees.
Ends