US begins moving heavy military equipment to UNAMID forces in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Jan 14 (KUNA) -- The U.S. began on Wednesday the transfer of heavy equipment from Rwanda to United Nations-African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) peacekeeping forces in Sudan's troubled region of Darfur.
The equipment which consist of vehicles, electric generators, other multi task implements which were assigned to Rwandan special armed forces, arrived in a first stage of transfer to the town of El Fasher, the headquarters of UNAMID in northern Darfur, the Spokesman of UNAMID Noureddine Al-Mazini told KUNA.
The spokesman noted that such a step was based on previous commitments and initiatives made by the U.S. government to transfer the equipment to Darfur.
Al-Mazini said the U.S. government has also committed itself to the transfer of more than a hundred containers for the mission from the Sudanese port to the town of El Fasher. Al-Mazini added that so far 60 percent of the planned contingent of troops numbering 26,000 have been deployed, which is more than half of what was hoped for by the end of last year. (end) hha.mb KUNA 150018 Jan 09NNNN