United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur

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UNAMID forces

The United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is a joint African Union and UN peacekeeping mission formally approved by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1769 on 31 July 2007^[1] to bring stability to the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan while peace talks on a final settlement continue. It was initially given a mandate of 12 months (i.e. until 31 July 2008) with a force of about 26,000 personnel, and began to deploy to the region in October 2007. The 9,000-strong African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which is presently responsible for peacekeeping, is expected to be merged into this new force by 31 December 2007.^[2]

The force will include up to 19,555 military personnel and up to 3,772 police, along with a further "19 formed police units comprising up to 140 personnel each." ^[3] The peacekeepers will be allowed to use force to protect civilians and humanitarian operations. UNAMID will be the first joint UN/AU force and the largest peacekeeping mission. As of 31 December 2007, it has deployed 9,065 total uniformed personnel, including 6,880 troops. ^[4]

[edit] Participants

On 12 August 2007 Alpha Oumar Konare, the chairman of the African Union, announced UNAMID was likely to be an all-African peacekeeping force.^[5] However, the following countries have stated they are likely to take part in the peacekeeping mission at one point or another:^[6]