November 12, 2008 (EL FASHER) – The Egyptian infantry battalion for peacekeeping in Darfur will deploy Thursday to Saturday, joining the African Union – United Nations hybrid operation (UNAMID), a spokesman said Nov. 7.

An Egyptian heavy transport company arrived in Nyala, South Darfur on Wednesday, consisting of 155 soldiers and officers. An additional seven personnel were already on the ground as part of an advance party.

"The Egyptian company will primarily support the distribution of cargo between sector logistics bases, the movement of bulk cargo, including water and fuel tankers, and provide transport and engineering capabilities," stated UNAMID.

In preparation for the arrival of the main body of the infantry battalion, consisting of 490 personnel, another advance party of now 177 personnel has been doing logistics work for the incoming troops since February.

Egypt has also deployed a signal company, and on August 14 it deployed an engineering company of 335 military personnel.

UNAMID reported that the security situation in Darfur was relatively calm during the first week of November, despite the increase in carjackings, particularly in southern Darfur.

"Banditry activities, rape cases, are still prevalent in the region," stated the mission.

Mission Force Commander Martin Agwai expected 1,200 troops from Egypt in May, but there have been delays.

Beyond the normal logistical challenges of moving military equipment to a region as remote as Darfur, major delays are attributable to security incidents along the vast government-held stretch of roads from Port Sudan to Darfur.

Sudanese contractors often refuse to undertake the journey. Consequently, the Egyptian advance party was tasked with driving their own equipment from El Obeid to Um Kadada.

The 72 drivers and 4 officers from the first Egyptian battalion arrived in Um Kadada on September 15, but subsequently flew to El Obeid and moved their equipment by road on September 22, according to the UN secretary-general’s latest report to the Security Council.

During August and September rains, UNAMID was able to move three armed convoys involving 165 vehicles from El Obeid to El Fasher. One 40-vehicle convoy encountered more than 100 World Food Programme (WFP) trucks at the Kordofan-Darfur border, where the WFP convoy had stood idle for three weeks, reportedly owing to lack of escorts, the secretary-general reports.

Another cause of delay is that the equipment has to pass through approval by customs, national intelligence and national security officials at Port Sudan.

The equipment of the Egyptian transport company arrived in Port Sudan on January 31, but only 15% of it had arrived in Nyala in Darfur by the end of May, according to the secretary-general’s June 17 report on deployment.

Moreover, construction work on the Um Kadada base, where the Egyptians were to deploy, was not begun when it was meant to in early June, due to an inability to offload heavy engineering machinery.

Hocine Medili, a UNAMID logistics official, traveled to Um Kadada in North Darfur on October 13 to inspect the readiness of the Egyptians’ team base. Medili was accompanied by the Egyptian officer in charge of deployment, the UNAMID military planning officer and the mission’s chief engineer.

At that time, the Egyptian battalion was expected to join the mission at the end of October.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1769 (2007) authorized UNAMID to have a strength of up to 19,555 military personnel, including 360 military observers and liaison officers. Today’s deployment brings the total number of UNAMID troops in Darfur to 9,122.

(ST)