Darfur: UN chief outlines timetable towards full deployment of peacekeeping force - Tripartite Committee (UN, AU and GOS) held first meeting Oct 07

On Monday, 07 October 2008, in Khartoum, the first meeting of the tripartite committee - comprising representatives of the UN, AU and Sudanese Government - was held to review the deployment of UNAMID and outline practical solutions to logistical and other challenges which the mission faces.

The three parties agreed “to take every possible step to speed up the deployment,” according to a press release issued by UNAMID, and also backed a set of measures to achieve that accelerated roll-out.

Some 85 per cent of the 26,000 troops and police officers expected when the peacekeeping mission, known as UNAMID, is at full capacity should then be in place by next March.

The first Egyptian and Ethiopian battalions will be deployed by the end of this month.

Increasing attacks on UN and international aid staff. The UNAMID mission is severely stretched.

An estimated 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur over the past five years as a result of direct combat, disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy, while another 2.7 million people have been displaced from their homes.

Source: UN News Centre report Monday 07 October 2008 - Darfur: Ban outlines timetable towards full deployment of peacekeeping force