New military chief of joint African Union-UN force in Darfur begins work

The new Force Commander of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur formally assumed his duties today in the troubled western Sudanese region.

Rwandan Lieutenant General Patrick Nyamvumba arrived in Darfur on 24 August and has spent the past week meeting peacekeeping troops and civilian staff serving with the mission, which is known as UNAMID.

Lt. Gen. Nyamvumba, 42, was appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping in July to succeed Gen. Martin Luther Agwai of Nigeria, who had served as Force Commander of UNAMID since its inception at the start of last year.

The new Force Commander has extensive leadership and operational experience, and most recently served as the chief of logistics in the Rwandan defence forces.

When it reaches full deployment, UNAMID should have more than 19,500 military personnel spread across Darfur, a remote and arid region that is bigger in size than Iraq. It is expecting to reach 97 per cent of its deployment numbers by the end of this year.