[Al Ahram] The United Nations...a formerly good idea gone bad...
Security Council on Monday extended for another year a peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and ensure aid delivery in Sudan's remote western region of Darfur despite calls by Khartoum to withdraw the $1.1 billion operation.
Law and order have collapsed in much of Darfur, where mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination. A joint African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-United Nations Mission (UNAMID) deployed in 2007.
Sudan asked UNAMID late last year to prepare to leave amid a dispute over attempts by the mission to investigate an alleged mass rape by Sudanese soldiers in the Darfur town of Tabit. The government denies any wrongdoing by the soldiers.
In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Security Council stressed that any withdrawal of the mission would be measured against benchmarks and conditions on the ground and implemented in a phased, flexible, reversible manner.
"Now is not the time to cut and run. Sudan has the greatest number of internally displaced people in Africa. And 2014 saw the worst level of suffering in the last 10 years," British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told news hounds.
The council expressed deep concern at the serious deterioration in the security situation in Darfur, "in particular, through a marked escalation of hostilities between government forces and rebel gangs."
"UNAMID must continue to give priority in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources to the protection of civilians ... and ensuring safe, timely and unhindered humanitarian access," the council resolution said.