India sends peacekeeping troops to strife-torn Sudan
India on Friday sent its Air Force troops to strife-torn Sudan, weeks after the United Nations Security Council extended the mandate for its mission for a further six months.
M. Bahadur, the leader of the 10,000-strong Indian contingent which is carrying with it key medical equipment and choppers, said they will largely be invovled in logistic support.
"The contingent that is going there comes under chapter 7, which means peace enforcement as against peace keeping which is chapter six. Their role will be logistic support, troop induction, casualty evacuation, search and rescue and basic medical support," Bahadur said at an Air Force Base in New Delhi.
The UNSC had established United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in March 2005 to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed by the Sudanese government and the former rebels of the southern Sudan People's Liberation movement/Army in January in Nairobi.
The agreement, which encourages wealth and power sharing in the oil-rich nation, ended a civil war between northern and southern Sudan that had lasted 21 years.
It entails for a six-year transitional period in the country and details protocols on sharing legislative power and natural resources. After the transitional period, south Sudan will vote to decide whether to remain politically united with the north or separate from it.
UNMIS' mandate also includes monitoring and verifying the ceasefire agreement, helping to set up the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme for ex-combatants, as well as promoting national reconciliation and human rights.
The Indian contigent leaves as the United Nations warned that escalating violence in northwestern region of Darfur could force it to suspend its aid operations there.
Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million people driven from their homes into refugee camps, mostly inside Darfur, the size of France.
Thousands are dying every month in miserable camps that house the almost two million people who have fled their homes after attacks from Arab militia, at times backed by the Khartoum government.
In the latest attack, 29 people were reported to have been killed in an attack by 300 armed men on a refugee camp on Thursday.
India, which has the fourth largest army in the world, has participated in many UN peacekeeping operations, including the Balkans and Middle East.
Over 62,000 Indian troops have participated in 36 peacekeeping operations worldwide. (ANI)
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