Nigeria deploys another batch of troops to Sudan’s Darfur region

By DANIEL BALINT-KURTI, Associated Press Writer

ABUJA, Nigeria, Oct 28, 2004 (AP) — Forty-seven Nigerian troops headed for Sudan’s violence-wracked Darfur region on Thursday, the latest batch of soldiers being deployed to bolster an African Union peacekeeping force there.

Nigerian troops prepare to board a U.S. military plane in the Nigerian capital Abuja, October 28, 2004.

The troops left Nigeria’s capital aboard a U.S. Air Force transport plane, said Nigerian Lt. Col. Abubakar Rabiu.

Nigeria already has 155 troops in Darfur, and is expected to send several hundred more. The African Union force currently numbers 390 and is supposed to expand to 3,320 soldiers by the end of November.

On Wednesday, a U.S. military spokesman in Stuttgart, Germany, said two U.S. military C-130 aircraft had been stationed in the Rwandan capital, Kigali to help facilitate the troop transfers.

The crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region began in February 2003 when rebels launched attacks against the Arab-dominated government, claiming discrimination in the distribution of scarce resources. Pro-government militias — called the Janjaweed — hit back, attacking Darfur villages.

Tens of thousands of people have died and 1.5 million have fled their homes since February 2003.

“The protection force is meant to protect the AU staff from possible attack, and also civilians from possible harassment by the Janjaweed,” Rabiu said.

About 390 Nigerian troops in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar are expected to fly to Darfur soon, military officials said.