THE FIRST RWANDAN BATTALION HAS BEEN FULLY DEPLOYED TO DARFUR
Addis Ababa, 26 July 2005 - Today, 26 July 2005, and three (3) days before the deadline established by the AU Plan of deployment, Rwanda has completed the deployment of its first Battalion of 680 strong men in Darfur, Sudan and made itself ready to start the deployment of its second Battalion scheduled to take place from 30 July to 9 August 2005. The airlift of the first Rwandan Battalion was made possible thanks to the hard work of the Air Movement Cell established in the Darfur Integrated Task Force, composed of EU, NATO, USA and DITF Officers and the assistance of the US Government. With the deployment of the Rwandan Battalion, the African Union has now completely deployed two new (2) Battalions in Darfur. It should be recalled that the Enhanced AMIS Plan makes provision for eight (8) Battalions from Nigeria (3), Rwanda (3), Senegal (1) and South Africa (1) to be deployed from 1st July to 30 September 2005.
Amb. KI Doulaye Corentin
Head of the DITF