Darfur airlift begins today

The United States-Africa Command, under the directive of President George Bush, begin today airlifting Rwandan equipment meant for its peacekeepers serving in the war ravaged Darfur region of Sudan. Military Spokesman Maj. Jill Rutaremara, yesterday confirmed the development and said that the airlifting was scheduled to kick off today early morning and would be carried out in different phases. “The first phase will include airlifting the urgent equipment which will be carried out by the US; the other phase will be airlifted by the United Nations,” Rutaremara said. The equipment that will be airlifted from Rwanda to Darfur amounts to 75 tonnes of heavy equipment and that include about 250 commercial, military support, and engineering vehicles, material handling and navigation equipment, radio communication kits, close to 100 trailers, forklifts and other oversized cargo, fuel tank trucks and water treatment plants. The equipment is expected to be airlifted by two C-17 Globe-master III aircrafts. Recently US President, Bush, said that that he had provided a waiver to the State Department for them to begin moving the equipment from Rwanda to Darfur, a directive that is now being implemented. The equipment is worth an estimated US$20 million (approx. Rwf 11 billion) and is part of a donation from the US government as a means of empowering its partner nations who participate in multinational peace support operations through the African Contingent Operations Assistance (ACOTA). Rwanda maintains about 3,500 peacekeepers in the Darfur as part of the United Nations/African Union Hybrid Mission (UNAMID) charged with restoring peace in the region. Ends

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Darfur airlift begins today