With our special correspondent in el-Fasher, Sébastien Németh

The Senegalese blue helmets are taking a moment of rest around a basketball game. After seventeen months in Darfur, the soldiers are returning home in two weeks. Platoon Commander Meringaïchi is not unhappy about returning to the country in good health.

"We constantly had to fix mechanical problems, there is a lot of sand in Darfur. There was also the problem of coordination with the populations, since they speak Arabic or English. But overall, it remains satisfactory, we managed all the difficult situations well. There were no deaths, there was no damage. We give thanks to God," explains the commander.

The Senegalese were deployed in Kutum, in northern Darfur. Lieutenant Ibrahim Modjo Mdiaye notably remembers the attack on the Fata Borno displaced persons camp, on July 13, 2020, which killed about a dozen people: "We heard gunfire ring out. There, we found attacked populations. That day, in any case, we were very dissuasive. It seems the attackers left as soon as they saw us."

For several months, Darfur has experienced a resurgence of violence. For Squadron Chief Abdoukhadre Gueye, the withdrawal of Minuad is premature: "For someone who has done fieldwork, in my humble opinion it is quite early. Some populations say so, particularly at the level of displaced persons camps. I think the mission could stay another year or two. It is still very likely that there will be a void."

Minuad is giving way to UNITAMS, a political UN mission without blue helmets. The security of Darfur is now in the hands of a Sudanese force of 12,000 men whose deployment is still awaited.