SUDAN: Peacekeepers to arrive in the south within a month

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 21 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - The UN announced on Wednesday that it would have peacekeeping troops on the ground in south Sudan within a month, to monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended 21 years of civil war in the south.

"Military observers and troops will start deploying in the mission area starting from next month," Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), told reporters in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

A humanitarian source in the central Sudanese garrison town of Malakal told IRIN on Thursday that a force of 1,000 Indian soldiers was expected to be deployed in the town, but the exact date of their arrival remained unclear.

"Military liaison officers have been deployed in most sectors, and staff officers are shuttling between Khartoum and [various] sectors to fine-tune the deployment schedule of troops," Achouri said, adding that 44 staff officers had arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday to help with preparations.

According to Achouri, Gen Fazle Elahi Akbar, the Bangladeshi commander of the UNMIS force, would visit the main southern cities of Malakal, Wau and Juba on Thursday and Friday to "assess the ground preparations for UN troops' deployment."

Brig-Gen Gregory Mitchell, the force’s deputy commander, had already visited the southern town of Juba on Monday to inspect the arrangements being made, Achouri added.

On 14 April, Akbar had a meeting with Commander Salva Kiir, chief of the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to discuss the UNMIS military deployment.

UNMIS was established after the UN Security Council passed a resolution on 24 March to send a 10,000-strong peace force to southern Sudan to monitor the January peace accord.

Delegates from the National Liberation Council, the SPLM/A's legislative body, had previously expressed concern about the number Muslim countries that had offered to contribute forces to UNMIS. On 24 January, they said it could lead to a northern bias during the implementation of the CPA.

The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983, when rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. The fighting has killed at least 2 million people, uprooted 4 million more, and forced some 550,000 to flee to neighbouring countries.

[ENDS]