German army to begin airlifting observers into Darfur

BERLIN, Dec 15 (AFP) — The German army expects to begin airlifting African Union (AU) ceasefire observers into the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan on Thursday, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

A WFP Illyshin aircraft starts to drop its cargo of food aid near Kirindang IDP camp, west Darfur.(WFP).

Transport planes will take around 200 Gambian soldiers and 12 tonnes of equipment from the Gambian capital Banjul to Darfur, with a stopover in Chad, the spokesman told a press conference.

“It is expected that the operation, which is the first of its kind, will be completed on December 24,” he said.

Between 60 and 70 German soldiers are expected to take part in the operation.

“This is a particular sign of our support for the peace efforts of the African Union against the background of the very worrying and dramatic situation in Darfur,” the spokesman said.

“There are massive violations of the ceasefire agreement… The dramatic aspect of the situation has increased and so the necessity to help over there has grown.”

The German parliament unanimously agreed on December 3 to provide up to 200 troops to help transport AU soldiers into Darfur.

The mission allows for the soldiers to work as flight personnel or maintenance staff, but excludes them being based in Darfur itself.

German President Horst Koehler said during a visit to Ethiopia on Wednesday that the AU should have intervened earlier in Darfur.

The United Nations and human rights groups have accused the warring sides of massive human rights violations in Darfur, a resource-rich region the size of France.

In October, the AU said it would boost the number of personnel monitoring a shaky truce signed in April from 465 to 3,320, but it has yet to get all of those observers on the ground.