January 2020— Sudanese government and Darfur peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, Sunday agreed to immediately reactivate a joint security mechanism to allow speedy security-related consultations and decisions.

The agreement comes as a result of the repeated looting incidents of UN assets in West, South and more recently, North Darfur.

To this end, the UNAMID head held a series of meeting with Sudan Minister of Defence and with the Assistant Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 16 January and 24 January 2020, respectively.

The joint mechanism includes UNAMID, UN Country Team, Sudan Ministry of Defence and other relevant Sudanese authorities such as the foreign ministry, the interior ministry and the intelligence service.

“This is an important step towards ensuring the safety and security of local communities, UN staff and assets when incidents like the recent looting in Kabkabiya occur.

UNAMID Jeremiah Mamabolo welcomed the agreement pointing that the joint mechanism is a key element for joint immediate response to the security challenges

“For instance, in the recent Kabkabiya looting incident, MoFA and related security elements, once alerted by the Mission of the developing situation, immediately deployed in the area averting further destruction of property and possible loss of lives," he added.

On 22 January, a large number of men, women and children harassed staff from the International Organization of Migration (IOM) who were distributing non-food items to victims of the flooding that occurred in Kabkabiya, North Darfur last October.

At the end of the distribution operation, some looters attacked the IOM staff alleging that they were not included in the distribution list. later on, the UNAMID said that five other local NGOs were also looted.

(ST)