By Prensa Latina
United Nations : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon insisted Tuesday on immediate deployment of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping forces in Sudan´s Darfur region.
In statements to media at the end of the Security Council meeting, Ban indicated that the crisis in Chad has “devastating consequences”
not only for Chadian citizens, but also for Darfur people who have sought refuge there.
More than 400,000 Sudanese people have crossed the border to Chad over the last five yearsm, fleeing from clashes between armed rebel groups and government troops.
Since early this year, a contingent formed by the UN and African Union, known as UNAMID (United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur) has maintained 9,000 of the 26,000 troops.
“We need our peacekeeping forces at full capacity in the theater of operations as soon as possible”, Ban said.
According to the UN Secretary General, there are serious signs that the Sudanese government will decide this week to sign an agreement on the status of those joint peacekeeping forces.
The UN Forces have the mission to protect more than two million people displaced by violence, to ensure humanitarian aid operations and to contain confrontations among rebel groups and troops of the government in Darfur.