UN adopts 4 resolutions, voting by email as a result of COVID-19
The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted four resolutions on Monday, using its 15 members voting by email for the first time as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Members voted to keep troops in Sudan's restive Darfur region before end of May and maintain the U.N. political mission in Somalia until June 30. They extended the mandate of the U.N. panel of authorities monitoring sanctions against North Korea until April 30, 2021, plus they stressed the importance of supporting the U.N.'s far-flung peacekeeping operations.
The U.N.'s most powerful body has been meeting by video as a result of COVID-19, which includes hit NEW YORK, where the U.N. has its headquarters, exceedingly hard. The last council meeting in the headquarters complex was on March 12, when a resolution was adopted extending the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and welcoming "encouraging developments" toward peace.
An answer sponsored by the United Kingdom and Germany extends the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur referred to as UNAMID until May 31 when the council said it will decide on "the responsible draw-down and exit" of UNAMID. The council said it also intends to determine "a follow-on occurrence to UNAMID" as well.
The Darfur conflict started out in 2003 when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination. The federal government in Khartoum was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing them on civilian populations - a charge it denies. Recently, as the consequence of an effective government military campaign, the rebellion has been reduced to an individual rebel faction.
There's been pressure, including from the Trump administration, to scale down the UNAMID force in response to reduced fighting and security conditions. It was established in 2007 and was one of the U.N.'s priciest operations, with a ceiling of 15,845 military personnel and 3,403 police in June 2016.
In July 2018, the Security Council voted to considerably cut the force, with a target to get rid of the mission on June 30, 2020, however the mass street protests by a pro-democracy movement which commenced in late 2018 and led to last year's ouster of Al-Bashir and a military-civilian transitional government caused a delay.
By January, UNAMID had over 4,300 military personnel, more than 2,100 international police, and about 1,500 civilian staff. The resolution adopted Monday will maintain that force for just two months.
A proposed U.N. Security Council resolution obtained by AP earlier this month would replace UNAMID with a U.N. political and peace-building mission whose primary aim is always to support Sudan's fragile transition to democracy including in drafting a fresh constitution and finding your way through elections. But that proposal could be changed before the council makes your final decision on UNAMID and a follow-on mission towards the end of May.
China, which holds the rotating council presidency in March, sponsored an answer adopted unanimously stressing "the crucial role" that U.N. peacekeepers play "in obtaining conditions for stability and a lasting peace," and urging countries where they are deployed to make sure their freedom of movement.
U.N. peacekeeping currently has over 100,000 field personnel including military, police and civilians from over 120 countries deployed in 13 active missions across three continents.
The resolution expresses "grave concern about security threats and targeted attacks" against peacekeepers in lots of missions, condemns "in the strongest terms" all violence and killings of peacekeeping personnel, and demands prompt investigation and prosecution of those accountable for attacks against them.
