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Make the Full Deployment of UNAMID a Reality

On January 1, 2008, a UN-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) was deployed to Darfur with the mandate of protecting civilians. Many countries pledged troops and military hardware; but more than a year since its initial deployment, UNAMID remains severely under-resourced and just over 60% deployed. This failure by the international community continues to undermine UNAMID, which is hardly able to protect its forces, let alone the civilian population that it is mandated to protect. Urge key international actors – China, Egypt, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. – to fulfill their pledges and do everything in their capacity to ensure that UNAMID receives the equipment, troops, and funding it needs to operate successfully in protecting the people of Darfur.
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Message Recipients

Maged Abdelaziz - Ambassador

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Susan Rice - US Representative to the United Nations

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Baso Sangqu - Ambassador

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Sir John Sawers - Ambassador

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Zhang Yesui - Ambassador

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Dear (recipient name),

I am writing to you with regard to the United Nations--African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), which began deploying on January 1, 2008.  Despite pledges and repeated expressions of commitment by the international community to provide UNAMID with adequate troops and military hardware, more than year after deployment began it remains significantly under-resourced.

The United Nations Secretary General's repeated requests to the international community for the immediate provision of essential equipment to UNAMID have largely been ignored.  In the December 2008 report to the United Nations Security Council, the UN Secretary General once again listed the military equipment and other hardware that the peacekeeping operation is still lacking, including in particular 18 medium-utility helicopters.

The failure by the international community to provide UNAMID with the necessary equipment as well as a sufficient number of troops and other resources, including funding, continues to undermine its effectiveness.  This situation has left civilians unprotected and at the mercy of various armed groups operating in Darfur.  Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the fighting between government forces and the armed opposition groups.  They continue to be killed, raped, and forcibly displaced from their homes, and the humanitarian situation remains dire.  Out of a population of approximately 6 million, at least 2.7 million people are now living in camps for the internally displaced in Darfur while others are refugees in eastern Chad.

I urge you to use all your influence to ensure that your government contributes to the protection of civilians in Darfur by UNAMID.  Civilians in Darfur continue to bear the brunt of the fighting between government of Sudan forces and armed opposition groups.  Without the necessary support, the UNAMID force will continue to struggle, if not fail, to protect civilians in Darfur.

Please use your influence to ensure that UNAMID is provided with all the resources that it requires.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

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