On the eve of taking over difficult duties in Darfur, the United Nations said that Khartoum was obstructing the deployment of a UN-African Union joint peacekeeping force that would contribute to peace in Sudan's troubled region.
The UN-African Union Mission in Darfur, known by its acronym UNAMID, will take over Monday from an African force to try its utmost to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian aid operations and create an environment for peace to take root. But on its first day at work, the joint force will have just over 9,000 military personnel instead of the authorized strength of 20,000 troops, more than 6,000 police and an additional significant civilian component. Once fully deployed, which will take months, UNAMID will be the largest peacekeeping operation in the world... |