UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled on Wednesday his
revised report on the hybrid UN-African Union (AU) mission in
Darfur.
In a letter dated June 5 transmitting the report to the
president of the Security Council, Ban said during the discussion
of the AU-UN report on the hybrid operation in Darfur, he indicated
that the AU had requested some additional clarifications and
revisions to the text.
Based on further consultations with the chairperson of the AU
Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, those adjustments have been
reflected in the new text, Ban said in the letter.
Konare is taking appropriate steps to submit the report to the
members of the AU Peace and Security Council, he added.
Compared with the old text, the new report reiterated past AU-UN
agreements and relevant UN documents, saying, "It was agreed that
backstopping and command and control structures for the hybrid
operation will be provided by the UN."
The new text also deleted a sentence stating that "given the
Security Council's primary responsibility for authorizing and the
United Nations direct responsibility for implementing the mandate
of the operation."
But it still seeks "further clarity" on the UN's role in command
and control and on financial matters as required by UN
troop-contributing countries and UN financial bodies.
By adopting a presidential statement on May 24, the 15-member
council endorsed the original report submitted by the UN chief
detailing the mandate and structure of the proposed hybrid AU-UN
peacekeeping force.
Last Friday after briefing the council, Ban told reporters that
it was "unfortunate" that the AU came back with some changes after
the Security Council had adopted and issued a presidential
statement.
He said he would work with his AU partners to "have
clarifications on some elements of the draft."
The UN, the AU and Sudan agreed in last November on a
three-stage package to strengthen the 7,000-strong AU force which
has been deployed in the region but has been unable to stop the
conflict there.
With the first phase already in place, the Sudanese government
gave the nod to the second "heavy support package" phase on April
16.
The revised AU-UN joint proposal, which sets out details of the
third phase, will have to be approved by the UN Security Council
and the AU's Peace and Security Committee.
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2007)
