Deployment of peacekeepers to Sudan delayed- UN

UNITED NATIONS, June 7, 2005 (AP) — United Nations peacekeepers have been delayed in deploying to southern Sudan because troop-contributing nations weren’t ready and the rainy season has begun, the top U.N. peacekeeping official said.

Nepalese soldiers in the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) arrive in El-Obeid, one of the main operational centres for aid agencies working in the south of Sudan, April 27, 2005. (Reuters) .

Jean-Marie Guehenno, the undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, told reporters Tuesday that the United Nations was reviewing its schedule to come up with a realistic timetable for sending troops to Sudan.

The U.N. Security Council voted in March to send 10,700 peacekeepers to Sudan to monitor an accord ending a 21-year civil war between the government and southern rebels, but none have been deployed so far.

The council hopes the deployment will not only create lasting peace in southern Sudan after the civil war, but also help end current violence in the country’s western Darfur region, where the number of dead from a conflict between government-backed Arab militias and black African rebels is now estimated at 180,000.

Guehenno said rains were a key reason for the delay in deployment. He said some military observers and civilian staff would be sent ahead of troops in places deemed safe enough.

“We’re hitting the rainy season and everybody knows that during the rainy season the southern part of Sudan becomes a difficult place indeed,” Guehenno said.