254 Rwandan soldiers to Sudan in first UN mission
Nov 21, 2005 (KIGALI) — Rwanda will for the first time send 254 soldiers for a United Nations assignment in Sudan, according to The New Times newspaper on Monday.
Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) Chief of General Staff James Kabarebe was quoted as saying that “You are the first group in our country’s history that our force is sending for a UN mission. I believe you understand beyond reasonable doubt what this means.”
Kabarebe said “Our country has come a long way; we have shown a high standard of commitment and dedication and that is why the UN has considered our.”
The Rwandan UN forces in Sudan will serve alongside their comrades serving on the African Union (AU) mission in the western region of Darfur.
“The forces that went to Darfur were very superb despite being few; they impressed the AU and that is why the authorities demanded that we send more troops there, which we did. From a few soldiers, we now have a full Brigade in Darfur,” General Kabarebe asserted.
The Rwandan soldiers will replace Italian troops in Sudan.
In April 2005, the AU agreed to boost the size of its Darfur mission from the 3,320 to be deployed by the end of May to 7,731 by the end of September and appealed to the AU’s 53 members to support the operation with troops and cash.
The conflict which broke out in Darfur in February 2003 has claimed thousands of lives, displaced around 2 million people and sent more than 200,000 fleeing to neighboring Chad, sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
(Xinhua/ST)