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Darfur: UN, African Union envoys in Sudan to reinvigorate peace process

Darfur: UN, African Union envoys in Sudan to reinvigorate peace process

Salim Ahmed Salim (L) and Jan Eliasson
Arriving today in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the United Nations and African Union (AU) Special Envoys for Darfur began a weeklong mission to infuse new momentum into efforts to bring peace to the war-ravaged region.

Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim plan to meet with officials from the Sudanese Government as well as rebel movements.

While in Sudan -- where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes since fighting began in 2003 between Government forces and rebel groups -- the envoys will assess the commitment of the parties to the political process and will appeal to them to exercise maximum restraint and to cease hostilities.

Mr. Eliasson and Mr. Salim also seek to gauge how ready the Darfur Movements are to participate in a UN-AU meeting to resume substantive negotiations with the Government.

On 11 January, the Security Council strongly condemned the attack by Sudanese army elements on a supply convoy of the new joint UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as UNAMID, and voiced its readiness to act against any party impeding its deployment.

"The Security Council stresses that any attack or threat against UNAMID is unacceptable and demands that there will be no recurrence of attacks on UNAMID," the 15-member body said in a presidential statement.

Currently, UNAMID, which took over from an AU mission on 31 December 2007, has only 9,000 troops out of its mandated strength of 26,000 and lacks essential logistics and equipment. Top UN officials have repeatedly called on Member States to speed up delivery of vital units and assets.