26 August 2009 -- With the arrival today of 180 police officers the deployment of the two Jordanian Formed Police Units (FPUs) is now complete. These officers were preceded, on 19 August, by an advance party of twenty Jordanian Police Advisors tasked with assisting in the preparations of the facilities earmarked for the Unit at UNAMID and the coordination of the logistics of the contingent’s owned equipment (COE), as well as by the deployment of 100 officers yesterday.

The two Jordanian FPUs, made up of 140 personnel each, will be based in El Fasher and Kabkabiya in North Darfur.

Whereas Police Advisors are unarmed civilian police officers who are tasked to conduct patrols, investigate incidents, monitor reports, conduct community policing in Darfur Internally Displaced Persons Camps as well as training, UNAMID FPUs are specialized, self-sufficient and fully mobile rapid reaction police units, entirely composed of police officers from a single contingent, with expertise in crowd-management and other police tactical operations.

The FPU's main tasks are to protect civilians, conduct community policing in South Darfur -- especially in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps -- investigate incidents, and support UN agencies and international organizations in their delivery of humanitarian assistance. Besides providing security, they will also assist national authorities and UN agencies in delivering humanitarian assistance in times of need and conduct escort duties for other UNAMID components.

Currently, UNAMID has a total of eight FPUs on the ground out of the 19 authorized by the United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSC) 1769; these include (3) from Bangladesh, (1) from Indonesia, (1) from Nepal, (2) from Nigeria and (2) from Jordan. The Mission is also expecting the arrival of the Senegalese FPU this week.

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