Status on the Salaries of the Civilian Police (CIVPOL) Members serving in the Sudan in terms of a Mandate from the African Union (AU) and under the auspices of the African Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) and posted from different Countries within Africa

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NO: 291

Adv HC Schmidt (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

(1) Whether civilian police (CIVPOL) members serving in the Sudan in terms of a mandate from the African Union (AU) and under the auspices of the African Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) and posted from different countries within Africa, have been paid their salaries and/or allowances to date; if not, why not;

(2) Whether any salaries and /or allowances to CIVPOL members are still outstanding; if so, (a) for what period, (b) what are the reasons for non-payments and (c) what step have been taken to rectify the situation;

(3) Whether any CIVPOL members threatened not to return to their home countries and/or threatened to take any other action due to their non-payment; if so, what are the relevant details? N410E

REPLY:

(1) Yes, the AU has already deposited the outstanding CIVPOL allowances for the
year 2006 to relevant accounts for payments of the allowances.

(2) Yes, (a) January and February 2007 (b) due to financial constraints, the delays always emanate from the fact that their payments come from pledged funds, which are not always remitted timeously to the AU account by the donors. Therefore, presently, the AU has no money to pay members of CIVPOL for January and February 2007 until the money pledged is available to AU accounts. (c) the AU continues negotiating with the Donors to comply with their pledged obligations.

(3) No.