The United Nations African Union hybrid peacekeeping operation for Darfur (UNAMID) on Wednesday began operations at its El Fasher Headquarters in what the senior UN official there called a milestone for the strife-torn Sudanese region."It is a great day for the United Nations and the African Union, the day of UNAMID's launch, which was only an idea three months ago but now it is a profound reality," said Rodolphe Adada, the UN-AU joint special representative for Darfur. "I am pleased to say that with the cooperation of the government of Sudan, we are one more step closer to embark on our peacekeeping mandate for the people of Darfur," he declared.
But Adada cautioned that more support is needed, saying UNAMID is "facing a lack of pledges for specialised units in areas such as aviation and land transport that should be arriving in Darfur as part of the heavy support package" to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which has been on the ground in Darfur since 2004.