Sudan urges UNSC to withdraw peacekeepers from Dafur by 2020

Sudan has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to end the suspension of its troops' withdrawal from Dafur.

It demanded the world body to ensure all peacekeepers leave the region by June 2020.

However, the African Union (AU) said that security in the region "remains volatile", reported Al Jazeera.

Sudan's UN Ambassador Omer Mohamed Siddig said that it is a time to shift from peacekeeping to peacebuilding in Darfur. He urged the UN to end its restriction on the government's movement of arms and troops in and out of the region.

In late June, the UNSC voted unmously to hold the troops' withdrawal as the country was dealing with a political crisis.

The crisis in the region began in 2003 when ethnic African rebelled and blamed the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination. The government was accused of retaliating by providing arms to nomadic Arab tribes.

Following the rise in violence, the UN deployed its troops in the region.

After the government military campaign, the regional rebellion was reduced to a rebel Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Elnur in Jebel Marra.

Currently, the region has almost 5,600 personnel called Blue Helmets in Darfur.

The African Union has maintained that the region still faces "intermittent armed clashes" between government forces and Elnur's rebels.

Smail Chergui, the AU commissioner for peace and security, told the council that Darfur still faces "intermittent armed clashes" between government forces and Elnur's rebels, who have also abducted civilians and staff of non-governmental orgsations for ransom, robbed commercial trucks and looted property of local media and humtarian orgsations.

( With inputs from ANI )