Twenty military staff officers and five police advisors would be deployed by the United Nations in the western Sudanese region of Darfur in the coming week, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Until now, 27 UN military staff officers and 25 UN police advisors have been deployed in Darfur in support to the troops of the African Union (AU) Mission in Sudan (AMIS), according to the light Support Package worked out by the UN, the AU and the Sudanese government in last November.

The total of UN personnel to be deployed in support to AMIS in the framework of the Light Support package is 105 military staff officers, 33 police advisors and 48 civilian staff.

The Sudanese government has reiterated its rejection of the deployment of international troops in Darfur, saying that a UN-AU hybrid force to be formed in Darfur according to understandings reached between the three parties should remain African.

Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir stressed on Tuesday that his government had only approved the plan of the hybrid peacekeeping force provided that this force was to be African and African-led, with logistical support from the UN.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2007)