UNAMID welcomes AU Peace and Security delegation

November 22, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur hybrid mission in (UNAMID) today welcomed the visit of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC)to the headquarters of the Mission in El-Fashir on Tuesday.

The 15 members of the AUPSC are expected in Khartoum on Monday where they would hold talks with Sudanese officials and the Sudanese electoral commission before to arrive the UNAMID headquarters on Tuesday. The delegation will also visit the capital of southern Sudan to discuss with Southern Sudan officials on the peace implementation.

Noureddine Mezni, the official spokesman of the UNAMID pointed out that the visiting delegation would meet the leadership of the Mission to get acquainted with activities and achievement done in line with its mandate which aims at contributing to realization of peace and security in Darfur.

This is the first visit of its kind for the AUPSC since its establishment outside its headquarters in Addis Ababa. The choice of Sudan underlines the importance the Council attaches to the Darfur issue, he said.

The visiting delegation is led by Ambassador Joseph Nsengimana, Permanent Representative of Rwanda and Chairman of the Council for the month of November.

The other 14 members are: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkin Faso, Burundi ,Ethiopia, Gabon, Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Uganda, Swaziland, Tunisia and Zambia-Total 15 countries , a number of them has troops in Darfur, Nigeria and Rwanda are UNAMID major troop contributing countries .2Given the military dimension relating to the peace keeping operations in Sudan, several members of AUPSC will be accompanied by the military attaches of their respective missions.

(ST)