09 August 2011 - The UNAMID South African contingent based in Kutum, North Darfur, celebrated today their national women’s day, recalling the massive, women-led protest on 9 August, 1956 in Pretoria to end the pass book system, one of the degrading tools of apartheid.

Deputy Joint Special Representative-Political (DJSR-P) Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane told the assembled troops and Kutum women’s association members that “every African woman stands behind South Africa today. Within UNAMID, South African women have proven a major asset.”

One hundred and thirty of the 457 South African troops based in North Darfur are women.

The DJSR-P visited the major women’s hospital in the Kutum locality, where UNAMID has contributed a delivery room. Plans for a midwife training centre are completed. Both projects are being financed with Swiss support.

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