S/PV.6003 Security Council

In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, I shall take it that the Security Council agrees to extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Mr. Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. It is so decided. I invite Mr. Le Roy to take a seat at the Council table. In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, I shall take it that the Security Council agrees to extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Ms. Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support. It is so decided. I invite Ms. Malcorra to take a seat at the Council table. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them the report of the Secretary-General on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, contained in document S/2008/659. At this meeting, the Security Council will hear briefings by Mr. Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary- General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Ms. Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support. I now give the floor to Mr. Le Roy. Mr. Le Roy: I thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Security Council on the situation in Darfur and the efforts of the United Nations, working with the African Union, to bring an end to that terrible conflict. The Council has before it the most recent report of the Secretary-General on Darfur (S/2008/659). In accordance with Security Council resolution 1828 (2008), the report provides a detailed update on the status of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the political process, the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur and compliance by all parties with international obligations. I will not repeat the contents of the report, of course, but would instead like to share with the Council some of the impressions of my visit to the Sudan earlier this month. This afternoon, members of the Council will also be briefed by Under-Secretary- General Malcorra, who will speak on the logistical aspects of UNAMID’s deployment. I visited Darfur from 8 to 11 October. During that time, I travelled to El Fasher, Nyala and El Geneina, as well as to the site of the UNAMID team in Labado, South Darfur. I was also able to spend time in the internally displaced persons (IDPs) Kalma and Ardamata camps in South and North Darfur, respectively. In addition to discussions with the leadership and staff of UNAMID and informative visits to the Mission and sector headquarters, I met with Government officials and had fruitful exchanges with IDPs both in Kalma camp and in El Fasher and with representatives of the humanitarian community. I also met with Minni Minnawi in a remote location in Northern Darfur. I concluded my visit to the Sudan with conversations in Khartoum, where I met a range of senior Sudanese Government officials, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deng Alor; the Senior Adviser to the President, Nafie Ali Nafie; the Director of National Security, Salah Gosh; and the senior official responsible for liaison with UNAMID, Mouttrif Siddiq. Perhaps above all, the visit allowed me to obtain a first-hand understanding of the situation in Darfur, the conditions under which the 2.5 million displaced persons are forced to live and the many daunting challenges facing UNAMID in its effort to contribute to an improvement in the overall situation. Turning to the peacekeeping operation, I would like to assure the Council that every effort is being made to move forward rapidly with deployment. Meeting the targets described in the Secretary- General’s report, namely 60 per cent deployment by the end of the year and 80 per cent by the end of March 2009, is one of our highest priorities. Under-Secretary- General Malcorra will speak in more detail on this issue. We speak of increased numbers, but more important is increased capability, which will give UNAMID a chance to implement the wide-ranging mandate given to it by the Security Council. Above all, it will give UNAMID the tools to protect civilians, as initially envisaged by the Security Council. I believe we are making good progress. I visited the Nyala super camp, which is now an impressive facility nearing completion, built by UNAMID troops from a brownfield of scrub and desert. I saw first-hand the impact of effective relations between UNAMID and the humanitarian community in West Darfur, where the fighting of last January brought the peacekeepers and the humanitarians together to respond to the needs of the displaced. This partnership is now maturing and strengthening. I also heard for myself from the internally displaced persons in Kalma camp that the 24-7 presence of UNAMID police in the camp was a clear, positive development of great importance, because in their view it greatly increased their safety. I also heard from Government officials at every level that a new page had now been turned and that every effort would be made to support our efforts to deploy UNAMID. Those are all signs that the Mission is now taking shape and that the hard work of troop and police contributors and civilian staff is beginning to bear fruit. Nevertheless, I will be the first to tell the Council that we still have a considerable way to go. In many locations, we are still living with the legacy of the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS), where troops were equipped through ad hoc arrangements with donors and were often forced by circumstances and by the demands of the Mission to deploy to remote locations without the necessary materiel. As a result, there are still locations where the men and women of UNAMID are seriously underresourced, vulnerable and living and working in extremely difficult conditions. I saw this clearly in Labado, where Rwandan soldiers are doing their best to project a presence despite evident shortages of some key equipment. This problem will ultimately be addressed by the rotation into UNAMID of new units that will be equipped to United Nations standards, drawing on assessed contributions. In the meantime, business as usual is not an option, so we are doing everything we can to ensure that the basics are in place so that our troops and police can function. But the real solution will come with increased deployment of robust troops with the necessary capabilities. That is why deployment continues to be the focus both here at Headquarters and for colleagues in Darfur. In practical terms, this means the senior leadership of the Mission is heavily concerned with the political, logistical and operational complexities of deployment. It means that significant military and police assets are being dedicated to escorting convoys and protecting construction sites. It also means that the Mission itself is in a state of real-time evolution. New units are arriving, new sites are being built and the overall picture is really dynamic. This should be viewed as positive news. Of course, we must continue to press forward to put the Mission in place. At the same time, while we need to deploy and to focus our energies on the strengthening of the Mission, we cannot do so in isolation from the day-to-day tumult and tragedy of Darfur. There is still fighting. There is still displacement. We still receive reports of rapes and of civilians under imminent threat. In short, deployment may be UNAMID’s focus, but it is not the Mission’s only priority. We are also implementing our mandate with regard to protecting civilians. This presents a serious challenge. The environment is volatile. In fact, over the past weekend alone, we received reports of military action by the Sudanese Armed Forces in the North Darfur town of El Hilif, and of clashes between Government forces and the rebel forces of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)- Abdel Wahid near Kutum, also in North Darfur. There is also a relentlessly high level of banditry and criminality in Darfur. This year, up to mid-October, the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations have had their cars taken forcibly 273 times. In all of 2007 there were 158 such carjackings. In 2006, there were 116. All of these aspects add up to a high-risk environment. In fact, it is an environment where there is not yet peace to keep. In United Nations terms, it is a phase IV security environment, where we are obliged to minimize risk for United Nations civilian staff by reducing their numbers until we are able to provide a reasonable level of security for them as they carry out their duties. It is in this environment — short of the envisaged number of troops, without the envisaged military transport and attack helicopters and with infrastructure still being put in place — that the United Nations must act. It is a high-risk proposition, and I remind the Council that UNAMID has already sustained a significant number of casualties. Nevertheless, we must press on, because where we are able to lean forward there are tremendous opportunities to have a positive impact. I mentioned Kalma camp earlier, and the 24-7 presence there of UNAMID police. That presence has clearly improved the security of the IDPs, who themselves say so. The humanitarian community says so as well, and the Government, in my meetings with Southern Darfur Government representatives, also welcomed our presence in the camps. (spoke in French) During my visit to Darfur, I has the opportunity to meet with Mission leadership and with colleagues in each of the Mission’s three sectors to discuss how we could work together to multiply such forward-leaning action: by replicating the Kalma experience, by increasing patrols and by increasing outreach to our humanitarian colleagues. That must be our collective goal, even as civilian and military colleagues work to deploy in a difficult phase IV security environment. Achieving this goal will require a unified effort. We will need leadership that is courageous even as it seeks to mitigate risk. Here at Headquarters, we will have do everything possible to move the remaining troops, police and equipment into the Sudan. But Member States will also have a central role to play. Troop and police contributors will have to continue mobilizing personnel and equipment, and donors will have to assist in filling resource gaps. Most important, the Mission will obviously need the full support of the Security Council and the acknowledgement that the risks being taken will be accepted as a collective and full responsibility. I hope that we will be able to share some concrete achievements with the Council when this issue is next considered. I should like also to take this opportunity to reiterate that the message I received from the Government at all levels, both in Khartoum and from the governors in the field, was uniformly supportive of the deployment of UNAMID. My predecessor, Mr. Guéhenno, always stressed that there could not be deployment without the complete and sustained support of the Sudanese Government. That is as true today as it was then. I believe that we have come a long way in clearly defining the expectations and obligations both of the Government on the one hand and the African Union and the United Nations on the other. This clarity will help us to measure progress and to identify and address difficulties in going forward. Naturally, we shall continue to work in this way with the Sudanese Government in a spirit of transparency and good faith. Ms. Malcorra will be speaking to this issue in some detail shortly. The report before you also provides a brief summary of the work of the Joint African Union- United Nations Chief Mediator for Darfur, Mr. Djibril Bassolé. In addition to what is found in the report, I would like to confirm that Mr. Bassolé is pursuing his intensive consultations with Government and rebel leaders. In that respect, we look forward to the results of the Sudan People’s Initiative launched by the Government of the Sudan. As Mr. Bassolé himself said, when he assumed his functions, one of the central challenges for the Sudan People’s Initiative will be to ensure that it prepares the conditions required for direct dialogue among the various movements. Of course, in the meantime, Mr. Bassolé has maintained contacts with the Qatar initiative. As his work progresses, such contact has become increasingly important to ensuring that he receives the broad support required for him to effectively discharge the mandate given to him by the Council. For my part, I emphasize that Mr. Bassolé is continuing to benefit from the broad support of the United Nations, its Secretariat and the African Union in the implementation of his mandate. I have spoken at some length about the status of UNAMID and our intention to do our utmost to protect civilians, even as we press forward with deployment — all in an extremely volatile environment. It is crucial, however, to be completely clear: UNAMID will not solve the problems of Darfur. Our around-the-clock presence in one camp cannot be replicated in the 71 camps of Darfur on behalf of 2.5 million refugees and displaced persons. UNAMID can only assist and contribute to a solution and alleviate the sufferings of part of the population. The conflict will end only through a negotiated political settlement, predicated, of course, on a decision by the parties to halt military action and engage in peace negotiations. In that context, the recent violence in North Darfur is deeply disturbing. Unless there is a fundamental change in the intent of parties and the ambitious declarations made in Khartoum are reflected quickly on the ground, I fear that we will still be meeting in this Chamber to discuss Darfur for many months to come.

I thank Mr. Le Roy for his briefing. I now give the floor to Ms. Malcorra, Under- Secretary-General for Field Support. Ms. Malcorra: I am glad to be here today to provide the Council with additional details regarding the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), following Under-Secretary-General Le Roy’s introduction. I believe that the report before the Council (S/2008/659) provides a full picture of the status of our deployment efforts, the major challenges we are facing, the steps we are taking to address those challenges and our projections for the deployment of UNAMID in the coming months. Given the thorough nature of the report, I will to be very brief. We believe that we have now put in place the required systems and defined in detail the steps required to achieve our targets of 60 per cent deployment by the end of the year and 80 per cent by the end of March 2009. As the Council is aware, those new, revised targets reflect a scaling-back of initial, extremely ambitious projections. The new targets are still ambitious but in our view can be achieved. The objective has always been and will continue to be the deployment of the maximum number of capable units to the locations where they are required in the shortest time possible. Under-Secretary-General Le Roy has already described the kind of collaboration that will be needed to reach those goals. Troop and police contributors will have to mobilize personnel and equipment. Donors will have to fill resource gaps. The Government will have to deliver on its commitment to support our deployment efforts. And, of course, we at the United Nations will have to be at the centre of those efforts by coordinating the many moving parts of the complex process, by pressing as hard as we can to move personnel and equipment into the theatre, and by ensuring that the required preparations are in place to receive personnel and equipment when they arrive. I can say with confidence that our plans are in place and being implemented, but the task before us is daunting. For example, there are approximately 6,000 sea containers, full of equipment required by UNAMID and bound for Darfur, which are currently at the United Nations logistics hub in El Obeid, which is in the central Sudan. That is to say, those containers are 800 kilometres from El Fasher — 800 kilometres of dirt track and narrow roads which were virtually impassable for large trucks during the rainy season, which ended only last month. Getting this equipment to the Mission is central to the success of our deployment plan. The report before the Council describes the steps we are taking to do so and I am pleased to inform members that we have been making progress. Four new transport companies have recently been brought on board to increase the movement of containers out of El Obeid and into Darfur. That is in addition to an air bridge which we are putting in place to lift high-priority equipment directly from El Obeid into Darfur, and to our increasing use of rail and, in some cases, the direct air-lifting of equipment and personnel from troop-contributing capitals all the way to Darfur. We have been doing some useful work with the Friends of UNAMID in that regard, and we thank them for that. The other major pillar of our deployment plan relates to engineering work. New camps must be constructed, old camps must be expanded and critical infrastructure must be put in place. The Secretary- General’s report describes the actions being taken to ensure that we can meet the engineering demands of starting up a massive operation in that remote location. What I would like to stress here is that we must be prepared to be flexible and creative as we continue to implement our plans. We will, in particular, need our military engineering units to show maximum flexibility and to work throughout the Mission area on a wide variety of tasks. Finally, I would like to conclude my remarks by informing the Council that I will be returning to Khartoum next month for a second tripartite meeting with the Government of the Sudan and the African Union. The first meeting of the Tripartite Committee, which took place on 7 October and which is reflected in the Secretary-General’s report, was extremely useful. Together with the African Union and our Sudanese counterparts, we were able to identify critical areas for cooperation and specific requests for Government support. In many ways, the second meeting will be even more important than the first, since it will give us all an opportunity to evaluate concrete progress against commitments. It will allow us to put our ears to the ground. In closing, I look forward to keeping the Council apprised of the results of those very important discussions.

I now give the floor to the representative of the Sudan.

At the outset, I feel it is my duty to convey to you, Mr. President, the condolences of the Government and people of the Sudan for the Chinese who were killed in cold-blood in a barbaric and heinous terrorist crime that reflects the destructive approach of the Justice and Equality Movement and its goals. The crime followed through on the Movement’s previous well-known threats against the Chinese presence in the region and deserves strong condemnation. In May this year, in its notorious efforts to spread the crisis from Darfur to other areas, it attacked the Sudanese capital itself. Through you, Mr. President, I should like to convey our sincere condolences to the families of the victims, to wish a swift recovery to the wounded and to express the hope that those still being held captive will be released. In addition, I should like to congratulate you once again, Mr. President, on your assumption of the post of Permanent Representative of China, a country that has strong relations with our mother continent, Africa, and is linked to the Sudan by strong ties of friendship and communication. I am also pleased and proud to see you presiding over the Security Council for the current month, as you and your friendly country are well known for your principles and for upholding norms and values based on the rich history, culture and civilization of China, with its ancient historical roots. Furthermore, I should like to commend Mr. Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Ms. Susana Malcorra, Under- Secretary-General for Field Support, for their tireless and fruitful efforts since they assumed their posts. I wish both of them every success in establishing constructive and transparent working relations with Member States. The crime of murdering the five Chinese citizens occurred in the context of several other considerations and actions and as a reaction to the momentum for peace that is being felt throughout the Sudan as a result of the launching of the Sudan People’s Initiative. It was further proof of the anti-peace posture of that movement. But the Government of the Sudan remains the first to attend all forums and negotiations without any hesitation or conditions, regardless of time or place. It is the Government that has unilaterally and repeatedly renewed the ceasefire out of its conviction that there is no alternative to peace. Peace is the sole strategic option of the Government and the people of the Sudan in all their political diversity — hence, the Sudan People’s Initiative to achieve a political settlement to the Darfur crisis on the basis of an unprecedented national consensus regarding national objectives and their priority at this stage. As all Council members are aware, the Sudan People’s Initiative is neither an isolated effort nor parallel to regional and international efforts, but it rather supplements the efforts of Mr. Djibril Bassolé, African Union-United Nations Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur, and other efforts being made within the framework of the African-Arab initiative led by Qatar. In particular, peace will be built by the sons and daughters of the Sudan, and the international and regional communities should help the Sudanese people to attain that objective by supporting and enhancing their efforts. We therefore hope, now more than ever before, that those promising efforts will succeed within the national movement represented by the Sudan People’s Initiative, which is being led by all Sudanese political parties, both the Government and the opposition. I am pleased to inform the Council that the committees that were mandated to discuss and submit proposals on various aspects of the Darfur crisis have accomplished their task. They are: the committee on development and services; the committee on internally displaced persons, refugees and voluntary returns; the committee on peace and justice; the committee on reconciliation and social peace; the committee on foreign aspects; the committee on information; the committee on security; and the Committee on the choice of solutions. Only yesterday, the Presidential Council began to consider the committees’ proposals for submission to a general conference of the participants so that they can be adopted as an official document of the people of the Sudan that reflects their views and ideas and that constitutes a framework for producing a Sudanese resolution of the problems in Darfur. Perhaps the only absent factor will be the Security Council, which we expect to take positive measures vis-à-vis the leaders of the non-signatory movements to cause them to join the national consensus rather than relying on the military option to attain their objectives. If the peace process is experiencing obvious momentum, the deployment of the African Union- United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) is also making reasonable progress, as stated in the report of the Secretary-General on the deployment of UNAMID (S/2008/659). Those who follow all developments related to the Operation’s deployment will realize that the Government of the Sudan, having reaffirmed its commitment to resolution 1769 (2007), is backing up its words with deeds to honour that commitment. The Government was fully prepared to carry out its strategy to deploy 80 per cent of the Operation by the end of this year instead of the end of March 2009. The report, in its paragraphs 10 to 14, lists various reasons for delaying the attainment of that objective until the end of March 2009. Those reasons are mere justifications, and are not the fault of the Government of the Sudan. The Government has been striving to remove all obstacles and has been building channels of communication, coordination and positive action with the United Nations and the African Union. The most recent example was the meeting of the tripartite mechanism — which includes the Government of the Sudan, the African Union and the United Nations — on 7 October in Khartoum, in which Under-Secretary-General Malcorra participated. As members can see from the report, the Government of the Sudan responded to all the concerns and requests made by the United Nations, which were addressed in the agreement signed at the end of the meeting. For example, the UNAMID Liaison Office at El Fasher, led by a senior officer, includes various State institutions and organs in Darfur in order to ensure the synergy necessary for all its procedures and processes. Other liaison offices have been established in the various sectors of the three states of Darfur. The agreement also addressed all aspects of the use of airports, including travel authorizations, customs clearances, the best ways to use local and regional construction and transport capacities and the mobilization of resources. In this forum, I should like to reaffirm my country’s full commitment to implement the agreement, which will be followed up during the forthcoming visit of Ms. Susanna Malcorra to the Sudan, on 16 November 2008. The facts and events described in the report regarding security and humanitarian conditions clearly reflect the destructive acts and practices of sabotage, banditry and targeting of humanitarian workers carried out by armed groups and the incidents in which European tourists were kidnapped and cars were attacked. The politicization, militarization and arming of camps for internally displaced persons can easily been seen in the Kalma camp in Southern Darfur, which has become a threat to UNAMID’s operations from Nyala airport at a time when the Government of the Sudan, mindful of its responsibilities, is attempting to implement the humanitarian protocol it signed together with the United Nations through a high-level mechanism that includes the Government of the Sudan, the United Nations and the representatives of relevant humanitarian agencies and organizations. It is also important that I refer to the fact that the agreement signed in the context of the last meeting of the Tripartite Mechanism also included several paragraphs on facilitating humanitarian operations, in particular to provide protection to humanitarian convoys. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that my country continues to be fully committed to facilitating humanitarian operations and to providing all the assistance necessary to achieve their objectives. We appreciate the fact that the new report of the Secretary-General (S/2008/659) includes a full paragraph on the Sudan’s efforts with regard to justice and accountability. Paragraph 65 of the report refers to the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, who is currently carrying out his duties in all the States of Darfur in total impartiality and with the high level of professionalism characteristic of the Sudan’s judiciary. That neatly complements previous efforts to amend criminal procedures to establish special courts for the States of Darfur. Paragraph 79 of the report states that “It is unclear what impact the 14 July application by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant against President Omar Al-Bashir will have on peace and security in Darfur and in the Sudan”. I do not think that anyone should underestimate the real threats that may emanate from that shameful procedure. Suffice it to say that most members of the international community — as represented by the African Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States — have warned of the tragic consequences of that measure and the direct threat it poses to peace in the Sudan and the entire region. With regard to relations between the Sudan and Chad, I am very pleased to inform the Council that the good offices being deployed to normalize and strengthen relations between our two fraternal countries are making good progress. We have already agreed to return ambassadors to the two capitals between 7 and 10 November 2008. The Government of the Sudan once again calls on the United Nations to fulfil its obligations with regard to the full implementation of the heavy support package, which is the basis for the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur. Once that is complete, everything necessary for the Operation will be in place. We also call on the international community to provide for the remaining logistical needs of the mission, which have been talked about for a long time. In conveying to the Council all the positive developments on all tracks, my country’s Government hopes that the international community will support and strengthen those efforts in order to safeguard peace from the risks posed by sabotage and irresponsible undertakings and the harmful mixed messages being sent. In conclusion, we appeal to the international community to work effectively and promptly with armed groups to convince them to lay down their arms and to respond positively to the calls for peace.

The representative of the Sudan mentioned the abduction of the Chinese workers. The United States condemns that abduction, which took place in South Kordofan state last week, as articulated in the 21 October press statement of the Department of State. The United States is aware of reports that five Chinese workers were killed during a rescue attempt in South Kordofan State. If those reports are confirmed, we would express our regret for those deaths, extend our sympathy to the victims’ families and encourage the Government of the Sudan and the United Nations Mission in the Sudan to investigate that incident expeditiously, so that the perpetrators can be formally identified and brought to justice. The United States reiterates its condemnation of all violence in the Sudan — violence by the Government and violence by the rebels. All parties must refrain from violence in favour of peace and dialogue. In that regard, the Government of the Sudan has a special responsibility. It must cease to engage in those areas of concern documented in the most recent report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, including violating the limited arms embargo on Darfur, using aircraft painted to resemble United Nations humanitarian aircraft, conducting offensive overflights in Darfur, failing to implement the sanctions mandated by the Security Council and not accepting that there is no impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There are no further speakers inscribed on my list. In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion of the subject.