Today the President of The Gambia sent seven officers and three female soldiers to Darfur to serve as peacekeepers for the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur.

When he sent them off, he spoke to a topic that is not discussed often enough.

He said, “The Gambia will be seen through your behaviours during the peacekeeping mission”.

And he warned “we will never tolerate certain things in peacekeeping operations such as rape, stealing, drug trafficking, and immoral acts towards women refugees.” He commended the soldiers that have served in Darfur and expressed his hope that those who will replace them will create a good image of the country in international peacekeeping missions.

This week, activists across the country are highlighting the issue of violence against women in Darfur and are speaking out with One Voice to say there must be an end to it. Today, their voices were foreshadowed by a sitting head of state, who saw to it that his troops were sent with a clear mission: to protect the men, women and children of Darfur. To bring them no further harm, and to protect them from one of the most harrowing of genocidal tactics: sexual violence.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Peacekeeping, Violence Against Women. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.