Khartoum, 24 January 2007: The fifth meeting of the Tripartite Mechanism, which is made up of representatives of AMIS, UNMIS, and the Government of Sudan (GoS), was held today at UNMIS headquarters in Khartoum.
UNMIS provided an update on the status of deployment of UN personnel in Darfur in implementation of the Light Support Package to AMIS and indicated that to date, a total of 27 UN military staff officers and 25 UN Police advisors have been deployed in Darfur in support to AMIS. UNMIS will shortly deploy 5 additional UNPOL Advisors and 20 Military Staff Officers. By the end of January 2007, it is estimated that a total of 47 UN Military Staff Officers and 30 UNPOL Advisors would have been deployed under the LSP.
Regarding civilian staff to be deployed in support of AMIS, UNMIS informed the meeting that a total of 10 staff members have arrived to Khartoum and that the Government will be informed on their deployment once the departure date of those who will be deployed in Darfur has been confirmed.
The total of personnel to be deployed in support to AMIS in the framework of the Light Support package is 105 Military Staff Officers; 33 Police Advisors and 48 civilian staff.
UNMIS distributed to the meeting a draft of a Fact Sheet on the UN Light Support Package to AMIS that summarizes all relevant information on the LSP, including actual deployment of personnel and equipment.
AMIS stressed the need to expedite the completion of the LSP implementation before commencement of implementation of the Heavy Support Package. In response, UNMIS indicated that the UN is keen to speed up the LSP implementation process but that delays could be overcome with the cooperation of all parties concerned, including the Sudanese Government on issues related to clearance of goods and materials and approval of requests, such as for allocation of land plots for office and residential accommodation of the staff deployed under the support package. The GoS delegation stressed the Government's readiness to provide all assistance required for expediting the completion of the implementation of the LSP.
The tripartite mechanism will meet again on 7 February at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khartoum.
For Further information, please contact:
Mr. Noureddine Mezni, AMIS Spokesman. Tel: (+249)183-582207/9 Cell :(+249) 912174276 ; Email : n_mezni@hotmail.com , n_mezni@yahoo.fr
Ms. Radhia Achouri, Spokesperson, UNMIS .Tel: (+249) 912 392 270; (+249) 187 086 029; email: Achouri@un.org