Sudan welcomes US airlift to Darfur peacekeepers
January 6, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government today hailed a decision by the US to airlift equipments needed by the African Union – United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
Ali Al-Sadiq, spokesperson for Sudan foreign ministry, said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had promised the airlift during her meeting with Sudan 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha last September in New York.
“Even though this is a belated step but we hope it will aid the efforts of the African Union, UN and other countries interested in facilitating the deployment of hybrid force” Al-Sadiq said.
The order signed yesterday by US president George Bush stated that the “airlift of equipment for peacekeeping in Darfur without reimbursement from the United Nations is important to the security interests of the United States”.
Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the order also provides a waiver from the 15-day congressional notification requirements to allow for the airlift to proceed immediately.
“The airlift will deliver equipment and vehicles that are critical to the UNAMID deployment, and will thus help UNAMID directly protect civilian lives and improve the safe and effective delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid to areas of west Darfur currently inaccessible due to security concerns” Hadley said in statements published by the White House.
The US has in the past airlifted African Union peacekeepers into Darfur and recently offered to continue the process.
A spokesman for the United States Africa Command, Vince Crawley, said a small number of American troops would provide protection aboard the two C-17 cargo planes the Pentagon is sending and would remain in Darfur only long enough to unload the aircraft.
Crawley said the planes would fly from the United States to Rwanda to pick up 75 tons of large vehicles and heavy equipment, belonging to Rwanda, to take to Darfur in the next two to three weeks. Separately, the State Department is to hire a contractor to transport 240 containers of other supplies, currently stuck at Port Sudan.
It remains to be seen whether Sudan will give a quick approval for US troops to be in Darfur as part of the airlift.
The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir in the past has vowed not to allow any Western troops to step foot in the region.
UN experts estimate some 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes. Sudan blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.
(ST)