UNAMID officials continue tour of Darfur
August 8, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – A senior official from the United Nations – African Union (AU) Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) will visit the town of Nyala on Sunday to meet with the locals, NGO’s and a UN office in the region.
UNAMID said in a statement that Nyala’s trip “is a part of a cycle of working visits undertaken by Anyidoho to various locations within the Mission area”.
The UNAMID official was in Tawila last week where he met with police commanders who stressed the need to engage the Government of Sudan authorities to deploy Regular Police personnel to the area, for the implementation of community policing activities.
The DJSR thanked the personnel for their dedication and commitment in the face of a challenging deployment and encouraged them to continue to do their best.
Anyidoho also visited Shangil Tobayi, the base of peacekeepers who were ambushed in early July. The attack left 7 peacekeepers dead and 22 wounded.
UN Security Council adopted resolution 1769 a year ago which authorized a hybrid UN-AU force (UNAMID) consisting of 26,000 troops and police but so far it only has only 9,000 personnel.
A lack of helicopters is one of the main problems facing the UN-AU mission in Sudan’s Darfur region. The UN has for months been seeking 6 attack and 18 transport helicopters to support the force but the countries asked for help have said they have none available.
The commander of the force general Martin Luther Agwai said in an article last week that “tactical helicopters that could have prevented the killings of our forces”.
International experts also say more than 300,000 were killed and 2 million have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, a region that is roughly the size of France.
(ST)