22 September 2008 Media Statement

NZ extends role in UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan

Prime Minister Helen Clark announced today that New Zealand’s commitment to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is to be extended for one further year, to 1 October 2009.

“The UN Mission in Sudan is a major peacekeeping operation, critical to preventing a return to the north-south civil war in Sudan, Africa’s largest country,” Helen Clark said.

“New Zealand has three Defence Force personnel in UNMIS, which monitors the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended Sudan’s 30-year civil war in 2005.

“UNMIS contributes to the protection of the local population and allows UN agencies and NGOs to provide basic services, such as food and housing, for millions of people. UNMIS is also co-ordinating the transitional process leading to a 2011 referendum in Sudan, facilitating the return of refugees, protecting human rights, and promoting economic development.

“New Zealand is one of seventy countries participating in UNMIS. We have had personnel in Sudan since 2005, and have also contributed more than $12 million towards humanitarian relief in Sudan since 2004, through NZAID,” Helen Clark said.

The extension of the deployment of one staff officer and two military observers for one year will cost an estimated $444,000.

ENDS

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