Restrictions, poor equipment hinder Darfur peace mission: Ban

KHARTOUM: Restrictions by Sudan's government and the inadequate equipment of some peacekeepers in the Darfur region are hindering their ability to protect civilians and aid workers while violence increases, the UN chief says.
Ban Ki-moon made the comments in a review of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) which the UN Security Council ordered last July, according to a copy received Sunday by AFP.
He also called on the Security Council to endorse a set of measures, to be implemented over 12 months, "so that UNAMID can more effectively assist the many civilians affected by violence, insecurity and deprivation in Darfur".
While UNAMID has "some impact" in protecting civilians and aid delivery, "its effectiveness is seriously constrained by access restrictions and mobility constraints and shortfalls in the operational capabilities of several troop and police contingents," Ban's report says.
The six-year-old mission with more than 19,000 soldiers and police is one of the world's largest peacekeeping operations.
But the dynamics of Darfur's 11-year-old conflict, where clashes between rebels and government forces continue sporadically, have changed recently, prompting the review.
"Eleven years since the rebellion began, the situation in Darfur remains deeply troubling," Ban said.
Over the past two years, Sudan's deteriorating economy has led to worsening crime and intercommunal clashes, the report says, adding that some cash-poor paramilitaries have joined the tribal fighting over gold and other resources.
UNAMID itself has increasingly become a victim of the region's violence.
"In 2013, UNAMID suffered 19 attacks, resulting in 16 dead and 27 injured and a significant loss of vehicles, weapons and ammunition," Ban says.
The UN says 380,000 people were uprooted in Darfur in 2013 -- more than in any year since 2004 at the height of the conflict.
Fresh fighting has forced thousands more to flee their homes, the UN said last week, putting further pressure on an already stretched aid system dealing with almost two million displaced.