UN Might Withdraw Workers From Darfur

The United Nations has announced it is to withdraw non-essential staff from the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur.

The move comes after a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court sought the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide in Darfur.

Judges have still to decide whether there are reasonable grounds for an arrest warrant to be issued.

Sudan’s foreign ministry said it did not recognise the ICC, and any of its decisions were “non-existent”.

As of May this year, the joint UN-African Union Darfur mission, Unamid, included nearly 9,600 uniformed personnel and about 1,300 civilian staff, both international and local.

It is not clear how many will be withdrawn. But Gen Martin Luther Agwai, Unamid force commander, said the peacekeepers would maintain their unit strength and would not stop patrolling.