UN welcomes Egyptian troops to Darfur
September 25, 2007 (CAIRO) — The United Nations has welcomed a proposal by Egypt to send 2,500 troops to Darfur as part of a joint UN-African Union force aimed at ending violence in western Sudan, a senior Egyptian diplomat said.
“The 2,500-strong force will be made up of two mechanised infantry battalions, an engineering company, a transportation company, a signal company as well as a field hospital, three police units and a large number of military observers,” the diplomat said.
On Friday, ministers and senior officials of nearly 30 countries and regional bodies met in New York in a bid to speed up preparations for the deployment of a 26,000-strong joint AU-UN force to take over peacekeeping from the under-equipped and underfunded AU troops currently operating in the region.
Conflict in Darfur, combined with the effects of famine, has left at least 200,000 people dead and two million displaced since Khartoum enlisted Janjaweed Arab militia allies to put down an ethnic minority revolt in 2003.
Washington has accused Khartoum of genocide but the Sudanese authorities strongly deny the accusation and say only 9,000 people have died.
Darfur rebels are expected to hold talks with the Sudanese government in Tripoli on October 27 in an attempt to broaden the Darfur peace agreement signed in May 2006 to include those rebel groups which did not sign it.
(AFP)