Norway and Sweden to assist UN in Darfur

Norway and Sweden will contribute a joint engineer force to the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in Sudan. The joint Norwegian-Swedish effort is being planned for a period of up to 12 months, and the aim is that the force should be in place by the end of 2007.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said that Norway and Sweden consider it important to assist the UN in its efforts to create peace in Darfur, and that it is crucial that progress is made in the political talks between the parties to the conflict.

Together with the AU, the UN is now making preparations for a joint mission to support the international community’s efforts to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

On 31 July, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1769 (2007), which authorises the deployment of UNAMID, a joint UN-AU peace operation in Darfur, for an initial period of 12 months. The force will consist of about 26 000 personnel, of which about 19 500 will be military. UNAMID will thus be the UN’s largest peace operation. The force’s main task will be to protect civilians and support the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement.

At the same time peace negotiations are being conducted, led by Salim Ahmed Salim (AU) and former Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson (UN).