First batch of protection forces set to fly to Sudan

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 13, 2004 (Xinhua) — A 150-strong troop from Rwanda will fly on Friday from Kigali, the country’s capital, directly to Al-Fashir, northern part of Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur, the African Union (AU) confirmed here Friday.

“The AU and the Rwanda government are ready to deploy the AU force to Al-Fashir directly from Kigali on Aug. 14, 2004 as planned,” said an AU official who asked not to be named.

“Until today, there is no change of the plan in deploying the first group of the 300 African forces and everything goes as planned,” said the official.

An official of Sudanese embassy here also confirmed the troop’s deployment but declined to comment whether this is a part of the larger African peacekeeping forces or protection forces as initially talked about.

“We are not formally informed about the African peacekeeping forces, once we are informed we will then stated our position,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

Aside from Rwanda, some other African countries including South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal have also expressed their willingness to send troops to the Darfur as peacekeeping forces if the AU asks them to do so.