At the hearing this morning, Senator Corker (R-TN), who recently made a trip out to Sudan, pointed out something that has been obvious for a long time, that UNAMID has “an incredibly weak mandate.” He made the case that it is “a no-brainer” to change the mandate, and that in many cases the U.N. force has to go through so many procedural hoops that they can do little more than “wave at” different armed actors on the ground. Special Envoy Gration agreed the mandate was insufficient and argued that over time the force would need more aerial assets, new command and control arrangements, and stronger direct links with UNMIS – but suggested that this revised mandate would only come after a more comprehensive peace agreement and ceasefire was put in place.
