Tanzanian troops to join Darfur peacekeeping mission soon

January 7, 2008 (DAR ES SALAAM) – The Tanzanian government is expected to send some hundreds of troops to participate in the hybrid peacekeeping mission in the Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur.

The Darf es Salaam based daily The Citizen, reported today that the Tanzanian minister of defense, Hussein Mwinyi, said that between 600 to 800 peacekeepers will leave to Darfur but he didn’t give the exact date for their deployment.

“In the very near future our forces will be off to Sudan to assist with peacekeeping in Darfur,” Mwinyi said.

The Tanzanian minister, whose country presides the African Union currently, said the troops will be there once they end their training. He also indicated that all the member of the force will be from the infantry unit.

The arrival of the Tanzanian soldiers will a big boost to the peacekeeping mission, which is critically short of manpower and has only half the equipment they need, almost a year into their mission.

UNAMID has faced serious delay in transporting its troops, police and equipment to the war-ravaged western region of Sudan.

The UN had hoped to get 80 % of UNAMID’s 26,000-strong force into Sudan by the close of its first year on December 31, last year. Last October, the UN officials reviewed its target to 60 per cent.

There are 12,377 peacekeepers and 2,803 police officers in Darfur at the end of 2008, accounting for some 58 % of the full requirement for the peacekeeping mission.

The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir in the past has vowed not to allow any non African 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)