Sudan
On Tuesday, 31 May, the Council is expected to have an initial discussion on the special report of the Secretary-General containing recommendations on a successor mission to UNMIS. Council members have just got back from Sudan, and impressions from the visit are likely to strongly influence their views. The violent events in Abyei and Khartoum’s snub of the Council delegation, may affect the dynamics and the approach of some Council members toward the CPA parties.
In his report, the Secretary-General’s recommendation for the medium term is for an integrated mission with a mandated strength of 7,000 troops with utility helicopters and an engineering capacity and 900 individual police. He suggests that the mission cover the following areas: protection of civilians, political, military, police, civil affairs, human rights, justice, corrections, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, mine action, child protection, gender, public information, HIV/AIDS support, recovery and refugee return and reintegration, mission support and safety and security.
The Secretary-General also recommends in the short term that the Security Council consider a three-month technical rollover of UNMIS from 9 July to 9 October during which time UNMIS would begin downsizing and perhaps more importantly in the Secretary-General’s analyses continue assisting in the maintenance of north/south peace while the parties work out unresolved CPA implementation and post-CPA arrangements.
The discussions on Tuesday are expected to be significant in shaping the Council’s views on the type of UN presence in Sudan, including whether to accept the Secretary-General’s recommendation of a three-month technical rollover or terminate UNMIS from 9 July or start negotiating the new mission’s mandate immediately. At this point it seems that there are differences between Council members over whether to support the rollover.
