SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Foreign Policy - Document of the Week: Sudan’s Paramilitaries Are Seizing Abandoned U.N. Outposts in Darfur,

7/6/19: Foreign Policy – Document of the Week: Sudan’s Paramilitaries Are Seizing Abandoned U.N. Outposts in Darfur, by Colum Lynch

 Foreign Policy reports that the UN is halting its withdrawal of peacekeepers amid fear that the Rapid Support Forces are filling the security vacuum.

 A document seen by Foreign Policy showed that the TMC issued a decree on May 13, demanding the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur, or UNAMID, which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in Darfur more than a decade ago to protect civilians, hand over its peacekeeping facilities to the paramilitary force.

 UNAMID had intended to withdraw from Darfur by next summer, after facing criticism for falling short in its mission to protect civilians, and pressure from the US to cut peacekeeping costs.

 The RSF has already occupied 9 of the 10 peacekeeping sites that UNAMID has evacuated.