Sudan summons UN-AU deputy for statements on Unamid

Sudan is not pleased with the statements made by Ban Ki-moon, announcing the peacekeeping mission will remain in Sudan.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoned Abdel Kamara, the deputy-joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the African Union, on Thursday, to notify him on the Ministry's concern about the recent statement by Ban Ki-moon. The UN chief announced that there will be no withdrawal of the joint peacekeeping mission from Sudan.

The Ministry also expressed its disappointment about the information given about the Darfur region, describing it as “false and erroneous”. Spokesman Ali El Sadig explained that the Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry expressed “the deep convern of the government at the statement [by Ki-moon]”.

“When the population of Darfur will have been liberated from fear and violence, then it will be the time for us to disengage”, Edmund Mulet stressed to the Security Council on Wednesday, as the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. Late last year, Sudan ordered the peacekeeping mission in Darfur (Unamid) to prepare an exit strategy, but both Ki-moon and Mulet made it clear that the UN-AU forces will not leave soon.