British, United States and France’s senior diplomats cannot access the Darfur region of Sudan after Khartoum declined to issue them with visas. The diplomats were hoping to conduct a fact-finding mission in the conflict-struck region due to some irregularities especially on human rights issues.
Sudan is increasingly showing a confrontational approach to the United Nations and the West. This approach is attributed to Sudan’s pushing for UNAMID exit .
UNAMID’s poor performance, withholding of information that detailed violence against civilians and peacekeepers in Darfur was at the helm of the diplomats visit to Darfur. The trip was aimed at collecting facts and accessing the performance of the Mission.
Khartoum has expelled senior UN Officials from Sudan as well as obstructing a major mass rape investigation in Darfur. This only shows the lengths to which the Sudan government has become uncooperative.
In the negations between Khartoum and the UN on the strategies of the UNAMID exit, the Sudanese counterparts want the peacekeepers in Darfur out of the country by the end of 2015. This prompts the question of the relevance of the exit of UNAMID as reports show that more displacement has happened in the last year than in the entire decade-long conflict.
Darfur has been in turmoil since 2013 when non-Arab rebels started fighting against the Arab-led government of Sudan accusing it of discrimination. The UNAMID has been very fundamental in peacekeeping in the region and provision of humanitarian aid to the displaced.
If the UNAMID exit, it will create a severe humanitarian crisis as well as put the displaced people in higher danger of human rights violations. The absence of an international mediator and or observer will mean the perpetrators of the said crimes will go unpunished.
