New Year's Eve in Darfur

Supreme Command Headquarters is preparing the 800-soldier battalion due to join the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

Lt Gen Palangkoon Klahan, Director of the military’s Civil Affairs Division, said the 800 Thai troops would participate in the peacekeeping mission in the African country.

Thailand is to be the only country outside the African Union member nations to participate in the task in the war-torn western region of Darfur, where genocide allegedy is occurring.

The Directorate of Joint Operations was working on administrative affairs to support the Thai mission in Sudan, he said. The troops are tentatively scheduled to leave Thailand on Dec 31.

The Thai military’s task would cover protection of civilians, their buildings and facilities as well as ensuring free movement of staff working for the United Nations and humanitarian organisations, said Lt Gen Palangkoon.

They would also help to enforce the Darfur Peace Agreement and prevent any attempt to obstruct it, he said.

The Thai troops would be under the command of the AU-UN joint special representative, Rodolphe Adada, and would initially stay in Sudan for a year, said the director. An extension of the mission would be considered year by year.

The Cabinet had already approved the mission and agreed to allocate 350 million baht as reserved fund for the first six months.

The United Nations Security Council authorised the peacekeeping mission in Darfur earlier this year in an attempt to quell the ongoing violence in Darfur where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes since 2003 in light of fighting between rebels and government forces.(TNA)