SUDAN: Rwandan troops arrived in Darfur yesterday as the first foreign force there, mandated to protect observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between the Sudanese government and rebels in the remote western region.
Some 155 Rwandan troops were being sent to troubled Darfur at the weekend as part of an African Union (AU) force. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on Saturday his soldiers would also intervene to protect civilians in danger.
Rwanda says the world's slow response to the Darfur crisis echoes its own experience during a 1994 genocide.
The United Nations calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and says 50,000 people have been killed and at least one million more displaced since two rebel groups took up arms against the government in February last year.
Greeting the troops, the head of the AU ceasefire commission, Festus Okonkwo, told them to take their mandate as a protection force for the 118 AU monitors currently in Darfur "as a Bible". But he added that on humanitarian grounds they could take action to protect civilians in danger.
"Your assignment here is to protect all AU personnel in the mission," Okonkwo told the troops dressed in new, beige camouflage uniforms and green berets at the AU headquarters in El Fasher, capital of Northern Darfur state.
"So at any time, remember that is your basic assignment. Any other assignment outside that is on humanitarian grounds. That is not your mandate so ... make sure that every officer here understands the rules of engagement," he added.
The comments again brought into question what role the initial 308 Nigerian and Rwandan forces will play in Darfur, a remote area the size of France. Khartoum has rejected a peacekeeping role for any troops other than Sudanese.