March 8, 2009 (EL FASHER) — The security situation in Darfur is reported to be relatively calm, stated the UN-African Union hybrid operation today.

The mission claimed, however, that there has been an increase in banditry activities in El Geneina, West Darfur, an area of military build-up near the Chad border.

According to the UN Secretary-General’s most recent report on UNAMID, covering the months of December 2008 and January 2009, Sudan Armed Forces and aligned Chadian opposition groups have blocked peacekeepers’ patrols from entering areas around El Geneina.

During the past 24 hours, UNAMID Force conducted 25 confidence-building patrols, seven escort convoys and 11 night patrols covering 40 villages and camps for displaced persons. Similarly, UNAMID Police conducted 87 patrols in and around the camps.

The camps are now facing a future without some of the largest aid organizations once operating there, which were expelled from Darfur last week. Aid workers planned to meet with camp leaders of Al Salaam on Sunday ahead of the final evacuations of humanitarian personnel.

On Friday a high-level meeting was held between UNAMID Police Commissioner Micheal Fryer and the Umda of Zam Zam camp during a night patrol to the camp, which houses some 50,000 people.

Meanwhile, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir was received at the El Fasher airport by UNAMID Joint Special Representative Rodolphe Adada and other UNAMID senior officials met the president at the airport. He was accompanied from Khartoum by members of the diplomatic corps, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese and other Arab diplomats, as well as UNMIS Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ashraf Qazi, and the AU-UN Deputy Chief Mediator, Azouz Ennifar.

During a rally in the town, Al-Bashir said "I have a message to all the diplomatic missions in Sudan, the non-governmental organisations and the peacekeepers. They have to respect the rule of the country. If anyone goes further than the rule of the country, we will kick them out directly."

(ST)