MOSCOW, November 23 (Sputnik) — A joint African Union and UN peacekeeping mission in war-torn Darfur (UNAMID) has officially confirmed it has received a verbal request from the Sudanese government to leave the country amid growing tensions between the UN and Khartoum over an alleged mass rape in the region, Sudan Tribute reports.
UNAMID spokesperson, Ashraf Eissa, said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency on Saturday that the mission had "received a note verbal from the government of Sudan referring to the need for an exit strategy."
Eissa added that consideration of an exit strategy is already contained in UN Security Council resolution 2173, which was passed in August. The resolution extended the mission’s mandate for 10 more months and suggested it considers preparing plans for its departure from Darfur.
On Friday, Sudan said it asked UNAMID to prepare an "exit strategy" from the region.
"Sudan has officially asked the United Nations and UNAMID, before the mass rape claims in Tabit, to put in place a gradual exit strategy for the UNAMID mission," said Abdullah al-Azraq, under-secretary for the foreign minister, as cited by Reuters.
In addition, he underscored it would be a "gradual process leading to the exit of UNAMID from Sudan," and would not start immediately.
The move came after publicly stated tension between the UN and the Sudanese government, which initially denied the mission access to Tabit, a village 45km south-west of North Darfur capital El-Fasher, where, according to media allegations, women were being raped by government-allied troops last month. A local news website reported Sudanese forces raped 200 women and young girls in the village of Tabit on October 31. Khartoum has repeatedly denied these claims.
Days later, a mission was allowed to the village escorted by government troops. However, it reported it had not immediately discovered evidence of rape.
According to Eissa, a request was sent for another visit, however, there were no response from the government.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was "deeply troubled" by the allegations, and urged Sudan to grant access to the town so that investigators can verify the reports.
Sudanese officials lashed out at UNAMID in the media. In comments quoted by local Ashrooq TV Sunday, Foreign Minister Ali Karti told the mission to "stick to its mandate… or leave us alone," according to Associated Press.
The mandate of UNAMID, deployed to Darfur in 2007, expires in March 2015. The situation in the region has deteriorated after African ethnic groups took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-led government, accusing it of discrimination. The conflict in Darfur has killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced two million, according to the UN.
The mission has been criticized by the UN itself. Lat month, an internal UN reviews said UNAMID had failed to provide UN headquarters with detailed reports on attacks against civilians and peacekeepers. The review was ordered following media claimed that the mission covered up information of deadly attacks.
The 19,000-strong mission has a budget of approximately $106 million per month, one of the highest budgets of the 16 UN peacekeeping forces.
