SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON SUDAN

 

The following Security Council press statement on the Sudan was delivered on 16 April by Council President Karen Pierce ( United Kingdom):

The members of the Security Council welcome the decision by the Government of National Unity to accept in full the United Nations heavy support package to the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS), as outlined in the Secretary-General’s report of 23 February 2007.  They call on the Government of National Unity to now facilitate the immediate deployment of the package.  The President of the Council is writing to the Secretary-General to enable him to request funding for the package from the General Assembly.

The members of the Council recall the presidential statement of 19 December 2006, calling for all parties to facilitate, per the Addis Ababa and Abuja Agreements, the immediate deployment of a hybrid operation in Darfur, for which back-stopping and command and control structures will be provided by the United Nations.  They welcome the efforts of the United Nations and the African Union, in consultation with the Government of National Unity, to reach agreement on the hybrid, and call on all parties to facilitate its deployment, as agreed by the African Union and the United Nations, without delay.

The members of the Council stress there can be no military solution to the crisis in Darfur.  They call for an immediate ceasefire, a reinvigorated political process, an improvement in the humanitarian situation and the deployment of an effective African Union-United Nations hybrid operation.  They express their full support for the efforts of the United Nations and African Union Special Envoys for Darfur, and call for their work to advance with all possible speed and with the cooperation of all relevant parties.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record