Khartoum – The deputy spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, mentioned that the UNITAMS has been established and the Secretariat is now planning the Mission’s concept and structure and will be working with the government and other stakeholders to finalize these plans in the coming months.
Haq stated “While the impact of COVID-19 has delayed the deployment of UNITAMS to Sudan, it is expected that the mission will be operational in the coming months and able to start delivering against all its strategic objectives by 1 January 2021, as requested by the Security Council”.
As to reports that some Troop Contributing Countries of UNAMID have requested to withdraw, the Deputy Spokesman said that the United Nations has not received any requests from the troop and police contributing countries of UNAMID to repatriate ahead of the expiration of its current mandate on 31 December 2020.
AU Peace and Security Council, UNAMID will continue to implement its mandate until 31 December 2020, focusing on the protection of civilians, Haq stated.
He added that UN and the AU will also initiate preparatory work for the next AU-UN special report on the way forward for UNAMID, due to the Security Council by 31 October 2020.
