Dr. Ibrahim Gambari, the Joint Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the African Union and the United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), made this comment in an appearance at IPI on March 30th to discuss “Ending the Conflict in Darfur: Time for a Renewed Effort.”

“It is real, and it is also potential,” Dr. Gambari said of the threats to peacekeepers. He noted that the peacekeeping mission had already had 47 soldiers killed.

“But because of the robust approach that we are now pursuing,” he said, “the attacks on peacekeepers are less, and the attacks on the humanitarian community are much fewer.”

Noting that the mission would now retaliate, he said that “we are not going to look for trouble, but we think it’s important to show that we can protect ourselves and protect the humanitarian community, otherwise the confidence of the people in us for protecting them will be greatly diminished.”

This event was part of IPI’s continuing SRSG series where heads of UN missions abroad report back on their experiences in the field. Moderating the discussion was Warren Hoge, IPI’s Vice President for External Relations.

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