El Fasher, 21 January 2009 The African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) will deploy hundreds more troops within the next two months as part of the Mission’s efforts to speed up deployment in Darfur to ensure better safety and protection of local civilians.

Additional troops are expected to arrive by March from Egypt, South Africa, Senegal and Bangladesh. Later this year, further troops will arrive from Nepal, Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia. Tanzania has also announced it will send an entire infantry battalion of about 900 and advance party including engineers.

The announcement of the arrival of new troops comes as UNAMID continues to expedite its deployment target. This week in Addis Ababa, the UN, AU and the Government of Sudan met in a Tripartite Mechanism meeting to discuss ways of accelerating the deployment of UNAMID to reach its authorized strength of 26,000 military and police personnel.

On behalf of the UNAMID Force Commander, Force Chief of Staff, Brigadier General George Ndana Kyaka, welcomed Tanzania's decision to deploy an infantry battalion. “This will be the country's first battalion in Darfur, and we hope it serves as a reminder to other troop contributing countries of the value of supporting the mission. The troops will play a vital role in our efforts to keep peace and security in Darfur and ensure the safety of the civilian population”.

Some of the new troops deployed will be part of the existing battalions that are being upgraded to meet the UN standards. An additional 150 troops will join the Senegalese battalion and an additional 200 will join the South African battalion.

The last 200 members of the existing Egyptian Infantry battalion are expected to join UNAMID by March while the Bangladesh Sector Reserve Company and Bangladesh Movement Platoon of 150 each are due to arrive by March.

Brigadier General added that “between now and March, several UNAMID battalions will be expanding in size as they are upgraded, while the advance parties of other battalions are also being sent. The result will be hundreds more troops within the next two months”. These new troops will play an important role in strengthening the size and capabilities of UNAMID forces. “But I stress that we still need many more troops if we are to reach our deployment targets and fulfill our mandate,” he concluded.