Government has deployed 46 members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to the strife-torn Darfur region in the Sudan, as part of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). The members, six of whom are women, will join the 12 operational members and six members of the Headquarter Element who were deployed there earlier this year as part of the AMIS.

The group - together with police members from other African countries - fall under the command of Director Anand Pillay, a South African who was appointed as the Commissioner of the AMIS Civilian Policing Component in Darfur.

Police spokesperson Sally de Beer said all members of the SAPS deployed in Sudan had volunteered their duties and consequently passed stringent medical tests, evaluated and counselled. "They will undergo mission-specific training in Darfur," she said.

Director Pillay will deploy the members in terms of a needs analysis and in consultation with the African Union.

Director De Beer said the role of the Civilian Policing members in Darfur would be to "monitor the service delivery of the police of the government of Sudan to the community." They will also facilitate the building of good relations between the community and the police, give technical advice, export their knowledge on the successful adoption and implementation of community policing. - BuaNews