Sudan

UN pulls staffers out of Darfur

Article published on the 2008-07-15 Latest update 2008-07-15 14:36 TU

Protesters against the ICC arrest warrant, in Khartoum
(Photo: Reuters)

The United Nations began pulling out non-essential staff from Darfur on Tuesday, a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir. “This is not a pullout. It is not an evacuation. This is relocation,” Shereen al-Zorba, spokesperson for the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, told RFI.

“The fact that we had to raise the security… is not only related to the most recent events,” said Zorba, who added that the UN had been considering relocating people as early as Saturday, following a rise in violence in Darfur, most recently the death of seven UN peacekeepers last week.

Fear of violent protests and reprisals following the ICC move finally convinced officials to take the decision.

“The people who are being relocated are mostly, or almost entirely civilians,” said Zorba. “Their jobs are not deemed essential to the success of the mission at this point.”

Some 200 UN staffers are to be flown out to Ethiopia and Uganda. As of Tuesday afternoon, 88 people had been relocated, according to Zorba.

The Sudanese government is responsible for ensuring the safety of humanitarian workers and peacekeepers.

“The moment that our security experts decide that it’s quite safe for these people to come back, of course they are going to be brought back immediately to carry out the work,” said Zorba.

The UN has stressed that staffers may return to Darfur within the week.

Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) is concerned that the ICC’s arrest call could undermine peace efforts.

“We believe that priority should be given to the political process. The move made by the ICC definitely would not be helpful to the peace process,” El-Ghassim Wane, AU spokesperson, told RFI.

He said that the AU is consulting with partners to decide whether or not to ask the ICC to suspend the call for the arrests.

On Tuesday China expressed similar concerns. With a place on the UN security council, it is in a position to block any prosecution for up to a year.