Nigerian troops to depart for Sudan’s Darfur on Monday

ABUJA, Aug 27, 2004 (Xinhua) — A 150-strong company of Nigerian soldiers will depart on Monday to partake in the African Union (AU) protection force operation in western Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, a Nigerian military spokesman said Friday.

The contingent, drawn from the Army Headquarters Garrison in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, is to join some 150 Rwandan troops already there since Aug. 14, and carry out their mission of protecting the AU military observers, Rabiu Abubakar said in a statement.

A source at the Defense Headquarters in Abuja told Xinhua that the soldiers were currently undergoing “requisite military training.”

“These soldiers have never taken part in such military assignment, hence the need for this intensive training,” he added.

The AU has been considering raising its 300-strong contingent protecting ceasefire monitors to a full 2,000-strong peace mission.

Khartoum says that it accepts the deployment of more AU troops, but only to help cantonment of the rebel forces besides protection of the AU monitors, and that the country does not need AU peacekeepers to protect its civilians.

Darfur has been beset by an 18-month conflict between rebel forces of local black tribes, the government and the Arab militia Janjaweed since February 2003.

According to UN figures, the conflict has caused up to 50,000 deaths and nearly 1.5 million people displaced, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.