UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations announced on Tuesday that it is on target to mobilise a mainly African hybrid peace force in the war torn Darfur region of Sudan on schedule, but needs more offers from countries on critical capacities such as aviation and ground transport.

A senior UN peacekeeping official Jane Holl Lute, actng head of the new Department of Field Support, told reporters that “we are hitting the target of a predominantly African force,” outlined in last week’s Security Council resolution authorising the creation of the hybrid operation, to be known as UNAMID.

The hybrid operation with the African Union, the first of its kind, will become the largest peacekeeping force in the world, with almost 26,000 troops and police officers and nearly 5,000 civilian staff when it reaches full deployment. It will have an initial mandate of 12 months and will incorporate of the existing AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Ms Holl Lute said the UN has already received enough offers from member states to meet the required numbers of troops and police officers, but “we still are missing some pledges for key enabling capacities in the area of movement, for example, and in the area of aviation.”

Troops or police officers have already been pledged by Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand and Uganda. Those offers, however, are not final.