MILITARY CONFRONTATIONS STILL ON IN DARFUR – GAMBARI

The Head of the African Union-United Nations Force for Darfur on Thursday, said that continuing military confrontation between the Sudanese government and rebel movements in Darfur remained a major source of worry.

UNAMID chief, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, told a UN budget Committee that the Joint AU-UN force was continuing to increase in strength, but was deeply worried about the political situation on ground in Darfur, including constant attacks against UNAMID.

He said there had been signs of progress, but there remained much to be concerned about and much work to be done, News Agency of Nigeria reported.

'Sporadic and intermittent instances of military confrontation continue to occur,'' Gambari said.

He noted that a comprehensive and all-inclusive political peace agreement was yet to be agreed upon while large numbers of people still remained displaced.

He also noted that attacks on UNAMID and humanitarian convoys continued to be a major problem, adding other sources of worry, were the dangers of donor fatigue and a failure by the Darfuris to adjust to protracted period of reliance on humanitarian aid.

According to him, there is the need for UNAMID to provide protection to civilians, facilitate the delivery of aid, support efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution and support local-level, community-based peace-building initiatives and recovery efforts.

Gambari said that in just over two years since the inception of UNAMID, and in spite of many challenges, substantial progress had been made in some areas of the mission work, particularly with regards to mission deployment.