Mission to hand over Nuba to UN

Sudan Mirror
Volume 1, Issue 9 | 2nd February - 15th February, 2004

Nuba Mountains

The International Joint Military Committee/Mission(JMC/JMM) overseeing the humanitarian ceasefire agreement in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains has said it would hand over the region to the United Nations peacekeeping force once a comprehensive deal is reached.
“JMM/JMC is prepared for the UN to take over the business,” stated Brigadier General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen, head of the international observers during a press conference held in the area.
The Sudanese Government and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Nuba (SPLM/Nuba) meanwhile formally agreed to renew the ceasefire for another six months on a fifth JMC/JMM mandate.
Whilhemsen, a Norwegian national, said there had been no major violations to the ceasefire since the Government and the SPLM/Nuba Mountains sector signed the truce at Buergenstock, Switzerland two years ago.
Of 54 investigated alleged ceasefire violations, only nine cases had been considered real violations.
However the region’s population had steadily reached 1.3 million as a result of the significant improvement in working conditions in terms of security and the free movement of the indigenous population in the Nuba Mountains.