Garuda Continues Mission in Darfur

Cairo (Antara Bali) - The Garuda Contingent will continue to carry out its peace mission in West Darfur, Sudan, under the aegis of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), an envoy said.

"There has been no problem so far. The Garuda Contingent troops remain committed to carrying out peacekeeping tasks in the country," Indonesian Ambassador to Sudan Sujatmiko said when contacted from Cairo on Wednesday.

He was responding to a number of international media reports that the Sudanese government had banned  UNAMID peacekeeping forces from entering the war-stricken area.

Both UNAMID and Khartoum saw the Garuda Contingent had been doing very well according to the universal rules, he said.  
   
Asked to comment on the reported ban, the ambassador said he had not been informed of it.

"Where does the ban come from? But it is true that the Sudanese government has since a long time ago declared its very dangerous areas off-limit (to peacekeeping operations)," he said. (*/DWA/IGT)