AU Peace and Security Council threatens action against Darfur groups

The African Union Peace and Security Council has urged Darfuri holdout groups to join the peace process without any further delay and without preconditions, least it takes measures against them and asks the UN Security Council do the same.

The Council, in a communiqué released on Friday, following a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday, expressed serious concern over the deteriorating situation in the region, including tribal clashes and attacks against peacekeepers from the African Union and the United Nations, which resulted in the death of peacekeepers.

‘The Council stresses that the negotiation process cannot remain open-ended, and expresses its intention to take measures and recommend to the UN Security Council to do the same against those impeding the search for peace in Darfur,’ the communiqué received by PANA in Khartoum on Friday said.

The Council said tribal clashes and attacks against peacekeepers were unacceptable adding that their attendant humanitarian consequences had the potential to seriously undermine the search for a lasting solution to the conflict in Darfur, including the implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).

It condemned ‘in the strongest possible terms’ the attacks perpetrated against UNAMID personnel, including those that led to the killing of a Zambian Military Observer, in North Darfur, and three Senegalese police personnel, in West Darfur, on 11 and 13 October 2013 respectively, pointing out that the killing of peacekeepers constituted a war crime.

The Council urged Khartoum to demonstrate good faith by taking all necessary measures in order to urgently identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of those cowardly and criminal attacks against UNAMID personnel and earlier attacks against the Mission.