To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) troops and (b) other personnel are based in Darfur as part of the UNAMID force; and when he expects the UNAMID force to reach its full complement. (186361)

[holding answer 18 February 2008]: At present, the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur consists of a total of approximately 10,000 personnel: 7,700 military personnel, 1,500 police and 800 civilian staff. This needs to rise to a total of approximately 31,000 for the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur to reach its full complement: 19,500 troops, 6,500 police, and 5,000 civilian staff, both local and international.

We are working very closely with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the African Union to help achieve the goal of full deployment as soon as practicable. This will be extremely challenging as not all outstanding shortfalls, particularly helicopter capacity, have yet been filled. The UN-African Union Mission in Darfur's deployment to Darfur is one of the most complex and logistically difficult that the UN has ever undertaken.