Sudan Vision Daily News Paper Official Website - U S Airlift AU Troops to Darfur, Affirms that AU is the right force to handle th

El Fasher: James Lemor , A contingent of 50 Nigerian troops from Nigeria Advance Force has arrived in El Fasher, North Darfur State on Thursday October 28, 2004

aboard the United States C-130 Cargo plane, the first of 3000 reinforcements African Union (AU) troops deployed for a cease-fire monitoring operation and civilian protection into the Sudan's troubled Darfur region. Speaking to local and international press personnel, the US Air force Public Affairs Officer Capt. Heather Healy said they are expecting to airlift 1000 Rwandan soldiers in the next two weeks from their base in Kigali to Darfur as well to maintain humanitarian crisis in the region. " The international community support what the US is doing to strife to assist the AU efforts to realize stability in Darfur and eventually the US Government (USG) has been given a green light by the Government of Sudan (GOS) to fly to Sudan, because the US is on the lead to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur by rendering its support to the AU", Healy explained. In a news conference before the comafloge US Air force C-130 cargo plane touched the Sudanese soil, Chief Military Observer Colonel Anthony Amedoh told reporters that it's a fulfillment of the AU's Peace and Security Council request to have the AU extra troops on the ground in Darfur to monitor the cease-fire between the government and the two Darfur rebels signed on April 8, 2004 in the Chadian capital of N'djamena. "The main task of the AU's existing mission with 300 soldiers currently in Darfur since the deployment began in June 2004 is to protect civilians under imminent threat where possible but not to get involved in confrontation with parties to the shaky truce in an area the size of France. The troops will be provided by Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Gabon in addition to Egypt and Ghana as observers", reiterated Col. Amedoh. In a related development US administration affirmed Thursday that the AU is the right regional force to handle the crisis in Darfur. In a press statement issued by US Embassy in Khartoum, US affirm that the AU forces are the right for the regional security mission in Darfur. The USG is committed to end the suffering of people in the Darfur region of Sudan and eastern Chad by providing them with humanitarian assistance and providing the AU with logistics support to ensure the flow of aid. While the US military support is focused on airlift, which is one small part of the larger international and the USG humanitarian effort to assist the victims of the conflict. The expanded AU Mission in Sudan is providing vital security to enable UN agencies, US agency for International Development, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and other Non-Governmental Organizations to provide vital humanitarian relief to those in Darfur and eastern Chad who are desperately need it. Therefore the international help is needed to ensure the AU force arrival soon, so that delivery of aid can continue to save lives. The USG is urging other donor nations to help according to their expertise and resources, the release explained. The AU has limited airlift capability, a matter that prompted the US to assist in expansion of the AU mission in Sudan by providing Rwandan troops airlift because the US military support is focused on helping Africans help themselves, it added. It's worth mentioning that 100 Rwandan troops are due to arrive in Darfur today for the same regional security mission in Sudan.