New fleet of vehicles shipped to UN-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur

The joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping operation in the Darfur region of western Sudan has received a new fleet of vehicles.

The convoy of 21 fuel tankers and 22 other vehicles arrived at the UN-AU mission (UNAMID) headquarters in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, yesterday after a nine-day road trip across Sudan from the capital, Khartoum.

The Mission said that these convoys usually provide its police personnel a chance to establish closer contacts with Sudanese civilians along the route, UN spokesperson, Farhan Haq, told reporters in New York.

The peacekeeping mission was established by the Security Council in 2007 to protect civilians in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million forced from their homes since violence erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militiamen.