Darfur Peace and Development

29 July 2010 – Today, UNAMID offices throughout Darfur participated in a day-long, clean-up and environmental awareness campaign. Over 200 peacekeepers joined efforts to collect litter, clear storm drainage systems and plant trees in towns and around Mission facilities. UNAMID trucks and other heavy vehicles were made available.

A number of the Mission’s substantive divisions planted saplings outside the UNAMID headquarters compound in El Fasher, North Darfur. The campaign is scheduled…

29 July 2010 – A 6-member delegation from the Government of the Sudan and the League of Arab States (LAS) led by the League’s Ambassador Salah Halima yesterday began a three-day tour of Darfur, facilitated by UNAMID. The group visited a number of projects and model returnee villages funded by the LAS, including.

The delegation, which arrived in El Fasher, North Darfur this afternoon, will meet with the Mission’s leadership tomorrow…

28 July 2010 – Yesterday, in El Geneina, West Darfur, UNAMID observed the signing of a peace agreement between representatives of Sudan Liberation Army-FREES (SLA-FREES) and the Justice and Reform Movement (JRM), splinter groups of SLA-Abdul Wahid and the Justice and Equality Movement respectively.

The agreement was mediated by a reconciliation committee composed of native administrators and local leaders. The Deputy Wali (Governor) of West Darfur, Mr. Abolgasim Baraka, thanked the…

28 July 2010 – A UNAMID-backed library containing over 500 legal references was today inaugurated at the State Prosecutor’s Office in El Fasher, North Darfur. Attending the ceremony were state representatives and members of the humanitarian community.

“It is our pleasure to open this library, the fruit of the continued collaboration with our brothers in UNAMID,” said State Chief Prosecutor Mahdi Bosch. “It will provide an invaluable service and enhance the

27 July 2010 — The peace process in Darfur has reached a critical point, with the security situation deteriorating just as prospects for a negotiated settlement have slightly improved, UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari told the Security Council as he urged all parties to the conflict to step up their efforts to reach a deal.

Mr. Gambari, who is also the Joint Special Representative of the UN and AU in Darfur, told…

27 July 2010 – Two aid workers from the German government’s disaster relief organization, Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), have been released after 35 days in captivity. They were picked up safely today near Kabkabiya, North Darfur, by a UNAMID helicopter and taken to Nyala, South Darfur. Both are reportedly in good health.

In Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, five IDP sheikhs (leaders) who fled to UNAMID’s local police center on 25 July…

27 July 2010 — The peace process in Darfur has reached a critical point, with the security situation deteriorating just as prospects for a negotiated settlement have slightly improved, UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari told the Security Council as he urged all parties to the conflict to step up their efforts to reach a deal.

Mr. Gambari, who is also the Joint Special Representative of the UN and AU in Darfur, told…

25 July 2010 – Leaders in Ardamata IDP camp, near El Geneina, West Darfur, have approached UNAMID with reports that a number of residents who left the camps to cultivate crops on their lands were harassed by armed men.

IDPs claimed that they were physically assaulted in four locations less than 10 kilometers outside El Geneina. The armed men reportedly destroyed the seedlings and replanted the farmlands, having claimed them as…

25 July 2010 – Sporadic shooting was heard around midnight yesterday at Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, in South Darfur. According to UNAMID police, gunmen identifying themselves as members of the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid faction (SLA-AW) began shooting indiscriminately from about 0020 hours until 0130 hours.

Kalma camp has over 100,000 IDPs and is the second largest in the world after Graida camp in South Darfur. Tensions had been…

21 July 2010 – UNAMID yesterday met with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to explore ways of collaborating in the construction of schools and feeding programs in the villages of Greida and Dika, located approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Nyala, South Darfur. WFP is planning to construct four schools in Greida and one in Dika. Over 20,000 nomadic children in the area are expected to benefit from the…