Nearly 200 Rwandan troops leave for Darfur AU mission

KIGALI, April 30, 2005 (Xinhua) — A total of 194 Rwandan troops left here Saturday for Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur to maintain peace and security as agreed by the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council.

Rwandan soldiers belonging to the African Union force wait to board a plane to be dispatched to the Darfur region of Sudan.(AFP).

The contingent left to replace their compatriots who have been in Darfur for the last six months.

The AU mandate is six months and those leave to Darfur will be replacing their compatriots who left late last year, Lt. Col. Charles Karamba, the research and development officer of the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), told reporters at Kigali International Airport as the troops board the plane.

“The RDF returnees have accomplished their duties as assigned by the AU and we have confident that those who left today to take their new deployments will emulate their army compatriots,” Karamba added.

The new Rwandan contingent is serving in the AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur along side with Nigeria.

The AU came to a common consensus of more than double the number of troops in Darfur, including nearly 5,500 troops, 1,600 civilian police and some 700 military observers.

The conflict of Darfur flared up in February 2003 when two rebel groups took up arms against the Khartoum government accusing it of negligence.