Ethiopian peacekeepers arrive to Darfur over the week end
August 15, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Ethiopian peacekeepers are expected to arrive to Darfur during the week end to take part in the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) efforts to maintain peace and security in the troubled region.
Since September 2007, following the visit of the Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zinawi agreed to send 5000 peacekeeping troops to participate in the Hybrid Operation in the war-torn Darfur region.
The advance Ethiopian engineering company, as it is the case for the Chinese and Egyptian units, will work in areas of water installation and the erection of tents and electric power lines. They are part of the first Ethiopian infantry battalion, 850 solders, to join UNAMID.
The Ethiopian contingent will be deployed in Kulbus and Silea, in West Darfur.
Last Tuesday 12 August a new batch of 126 Egyptian engineering personnel arrived Darfur to join the hybrid mission.
The U.N. Security Council last month extended the mandate the 26,000-strong mission, which, if fully deployed, would be the world’s largest operation of its kind, to help end five years of rape and slaughter in the vast Sudanese desert region.
An estimated 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, an arid and impoverished region on Sudan’s western flank, since 2003, either through direct combat or disease, malnutrition and reduced life expectancy, while another 2.7 million people have been forced to flee from their homes.
(ST)