The Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Edmond Mulet, on Wednesday urged the Sudanese government to ensure the swift clearance of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) food rations and their delivery to the Mission.

In order to allow the Mission to effectively discharge its mandate, Mulet also called upon the government to lift all existing restrictions on the free movement of its personnel and assets, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric at Wednesday's daily briefing.

Briefing the Security Council on the situation in Darfur Wednesday morning, Mulet said UNAMID and humanitarian actors continued to face enormous operational challenges.

"He said that delays and denials of customs clearances for UNAMID containers, including food rations, and visas for staff by the Government have threatened to significantly undermine mandate implementation efforts," said the spokesman.

However, Mulet noted that out of the 190 containers previously blocked in Port Sudan, 52 have been released by the authorities and are being transported to warehouses in Khartoum for further inspections and subsequent transport to the Mission.

Moreover, an additional 52 are expected to be cleared and transported to Khartoum this week. The remaining 86 containers are at various stages of the clearance process, said Dujarric.

More than 1.4 million displaced people still rely on food handouts in camps throughout Darfur, and many others have fled the country. The intensity of the conflict in Darfur in western Sudan has diminished recently, but there is no end in sight to the fighting.

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