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The first group of 25 uniformed United Nations personnel arrived in the Darfur region of Sudan on Thursday.
Following the letter from Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir released earlier this week allowing U.N. troops into Darfur, 13 U.N. military staff officers and 12 police officers were deployed, reported the United Nations.
According to the new agreement by Khartoum, the U.N. force will supplement African Union’s 7,000 troops through a three-phase gradual plan.
The U.N. Security Council has authorized the deployment of up to 22,500 troops and police, but Sudan’s U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Adalhaleen, said Khartoum sees no need for thousands of additional troops. Instead, he said, the United Nations should finance the African troops and provide “backstopping” such as engineers, communications and logistical personnel, reported Reuters.
The United Nations has called the violence in Darfur the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates that over 200,000 people have been killed, more than 2.5 million people displaced and over 3.5 million affected by the conflict over a period of three years. The Khartoum government is accused of supporting the Janjaweed, which is responsible for widespread attacks against civilians in Darfur.
Christian leaders have joined in Darfur campaigns and events calling for the deployment of a multi-national U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur and U.S. intervention in the genocide. Christian leaders who have spoken out about Darfur include the Rev. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals; the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; and the Rev. Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief/CEO of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.
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Despite Khartoum’s seemingly new cooperativeness, some political leaders remain skeptical about the new development including U.S. ambassador Alejandro Wolff who said the world will have to wait and see what actually takes place in Darfur.
The United Nations maintain that its overall aim is to deploy a hybrid U.N.-A.U. peacekeeping force in Darfur composed of 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers, compared to the African Union’s current 7,000 troops.
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