The Security Council on Thursday extended the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and set out the parameters for a follow-on mission that will start its work on 1 January next year.
Unanimously adopting a twinset of resolutions through its silence procedure, the Council, recognizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UNAMID's drawdown, tacked an extra two months onto its mandate and kept the number of troops and police assigned to the mission unchanged.
Briefing the Council on 24 April, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic - including airport closures and the suspense of troop rotations - made it impractical for UNAMID to exit by 31 October as scheduled.
UNAMID was established on 31 July 2007 when the Council adopted resolution 1769 (2007) on the situation in Sudan, including Darfur, with the protection of civilians at the core of its mandate.
The Security Council is currently adopting resolutions by written votes cast by its 15 members under provisional measures put into place in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
