On 3 September, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Sudan on his first official visit the country. He will visit the south to assess the implementation of the January 2005 peace agreement that ended the twenty-year north-south conflict, and will travel to the fraught region of Darfur, in the west of the country. Ban has made ending the four-year crisis in Darfur a top priority since taking up his post at the start of this year.

The aim of the trip to the troubled region, according to Ban, is to “lock in the progress” that has been made in recent weeks. On 31 July, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1769, authorising the establishment of a long-awaited peacekeeping operation in Darfur. The UN-AU hybrid operation in Darfur, to be known as UNAMID, will be the largest UN peacekeeping mission when it reaches its intended full strength by the end of the year, comprising around 20,000 troops and 6,000 police.

The Security Council decision was complemented by progress on the ground: in early August rebel groups - many of which had refused to sign a May 2006 peace agreement - met to prepare for renewed political talks with Khartoum, due to start in October under the auspices of the AU and UN. The meeting produced agreement on a set of common demands and a commitment to a ceasefire, provided the Sudanese government makes a parallel commitment.

The Sudanese government previously blocked the deployment of the proposed hybrid UN–AU peacekeeping force, despite agreeing to it in December 2006 in the face of strong international pressure, causing some reservations about its latest commitment to allow the force to deploy without further delay.

The next important stage in UNAMID's deployment will be a high-level meeting hosted jointly by the UN and AU on 21 September, followed by a Security Council meeting of heads of state on 25 September, when troop contributions and other commitments will be confirmed.

On 16 September – just ahead of these meetings and the next session of the UN General Assembly – Globe for Darfur, an international coalition of which UNA-UK is a member, is holding its fourth Day for Darfur rally. The day’s theme is 'don't look away now', and people around the world will wear blindfolds to tell world leaders not to turn a blind eye to the atrocities in Darfur.

To mark the day in the UK, a rally is being held from midday outside the Sudanese Embassy in London before moving on to Downing Street.

Click here to visit UNA'UK's 'Protect Darfur' webpage.

In related news…

In July, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched an action plan in a bid to drive forward diplomatic progress on Darfur at the United Nations. The leaders followed this up with a joint article on 31 August, published in both the Times and Le Monde, in which they said they would “spare no efforts” in bringing a political solution to the conflict, and that they would “work together for further sanctions against those who fail to fulfil their commitments, obstruct the political process or continue to violate the ceasefire”.

To read the article, click here.

Also of interest...

>>> Letters to the UK government from UNA-UK Chair, Lord Hannay of Chiswick:

1. THE SITUATION IN DARFUR (13 March 2007) REPLY (29 March 2007)

2. PEACEKEEPING IN DARFUR (11 September 2006) REPLY (28 September 2006)

3. THE SITUATION IN DARFUR (28 April 2006) REPLY (23 May 2006)

>>> UNA-UK webpage on 'The UN and Darfur: R2P in Practice?'

>>> UN Fact Sheet on 'The United Nations and Darfur'

>>> Relevant UN Security Council resolutions:

SCR 1755 (2007) extending the mandate of UNMIS until October 2007

SCR 1769 (2007) establishing UNAMID

SCR 1706 (2006) giving UNMIS a mandate in Darfur and increasing its troop strength

SCR 1593 (2005) referring situation to the International Criminal Court

SCR 1591 (2005) imposing strengthened sanctions over Darfur

SCR 1590 (2005) establishing UNMIS

SCR 1556 (2004) imposing sanctions over Darfur