Sudan

Despite setbacks and challenges, Sudan continues its transition towards democracy, the head of the UN special political mission in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday.

While Sudan’s post-revolution reforms continue to register progress and peace is largely holding, implementation of the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement remains slow and lingering intercommunal violence continues to plague the Darfur region, the Security Council heard today as the head of that country’s sanctions committee presented his quarterly update.

The UN official who chairs the Permanent Ceasefire Commission arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday ahead of the launch of the implementation process of the security arrangements for Darfur armed groups.

Notable progress was achieved in advancing key elements of the Sudanese political transition.

Political analysts and rights groups have welcomed reports that Sudan may hand former president Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court.  Bashir is wanted by the court for alleged crimes in the Darfur region. … Hassan Khannenje, head of the Horn Institute for Strategic Studies, says sending Bashir to the ICC would help move the country forward.

The former Sudanese president is facing International Criminal Court charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. He has been on the wanted list since 2009.

The Sudanese cabinet has voted to ratify the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move bringing closer the possibility of former longtime President Omar al-Bashir facing trial for genocide.

Practically all peacekeepers and staff have now left the hybrid UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), in line with its drawdown plan, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Sudanese diplomats and UN experts Wednesday discussed the security situation in Darfur, as they have to report to the Security Council about the possible left of sanction related to the western Sudan region imposed 16 years ago.

Fourteen bases that had been run jointly by the United Nations and the African Union in Sudan’s Darfur region for 13 years are now under Sudan’s control and to be used by local populations.