UN spokesperson in Sudan calls it quits

Wednesday 9 January 2008.

January 8, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The spokesperson for the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) Radhia Achouri announced that she will leave the post by the end of this week.

Former UN SG envoy, Jan Pronk, with the UNMIS spokeswoman Radhia Achouri.

“I was privileged to be part of the UNMIS build-up when it was the Mission was at it advance stage” Achouri said in a statement sent by email.

The announcement came as a joint African-United Nations force (UNAMID) took over peacekeeping duties in Darfur last week and existing AU forces switched their green berets to the UN blue ones. The transfer of authority has been largely symbolic.

Sudan not signed off on the Status of Force (SAF) agreement that governs the work of the new force. It has refused to allow night flights — except for medical evacuation — or large U.N. cargo planes.

Additionally, the government has attempted to require the force to give it advance notice of all movements and to ensure that its military can scramble U.N. radio communications when it is conducting operations.

Sudan has also refused to allow non-African units in Darfur including Swedish, Thai and Nepalese troops.

The Tunisian born UN officer was frequently subject to a hostile media campaign and threats by government agencies including the Sudanese army.

The Sudanese government has been irritated by Achouri‘s statements on issues such as obstacles facing humanitarian access in Darfur and lack of compliance by northern troops on withdrawal from the South.

Last May the Sudanese justice Minister Mohamed Ali Al-Mardi warned Achouri not to go down the same road of the expelled UN Special Representative to Sudan Jan Pronk. The latter was expelled by Khartoum in October 2006 for exposing information on the performance of the Sudanese army in Darfur.

Achouri was considered close to Pronk during his time in Sudan.

The UN spokesperson said that she had an “enriching experience” in UNMIS which was mandated with supporting the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the North and South signed in 2005.

Some observers who spoke to Sudan Tribune last year noted that the UNMIS has been severely weakened since the expulsion of Pronk. They also said that UN leadership in New York was not adequately supporting the mission in face of Khartoum’s intimidation.

Nonetheless Achouri said that she wishes that the year 2008 “would be the year of comprehensive peace in Sudan, for the people deserves it”.

(ST)