UN seeks Indian helicopters for Darfur operation

October 16, 2009 (NEW DELHI) — The United Nations has asked India to contribute helicopters for its hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Darfur region of Sudan, UN Under-Secretary General Alain Le Roy said Thursday.

The 26,000-member UNAMID force needs 24 helicopters including 18 transport and six tactical helicopters to operate effectively across the Darfur region, which is as big as France, and to move the supplies and equipment necessary to carry out its mandate.

Ethiopia has agreed to provide the African Union/United Nations operation in Darfur with 5 tactical helicopters. The UNAMID had declined an offer of helicopters from Bangladesh because it included inadequate range and inability to fly at night.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy, during a visit to New Delhi told reporters that the Indian government is studying a demand to provide helicopters to Darfur mission.

“India has not yet committed the helicopters we requested for Sudan. They are, however, considering it,” he said.

India, the UN’s third largest contributor of peacekeepers with 8,767 troops and police personnel, had already contributed air assets to the peacekeeping operations in Congo, which were very effectively used by the UN mission.

Apart from the helicopters, the UN also wanted India to help with more police officers to its mission to train the policemen from troubled countries and regions that were returning to peace to increase their capabilities to maintain the rule of law on their own, he added.

Le Roy visited the Agra-based Para Brigade, the National Security Guards training centre at Manesar and the Police Academy in Hyderabad. “We have asked India to take up leadership and training of the UN peacekeepers,” he said.

(ST)