Sahel detachment in Darfur
- Duration
- 24 August 1974 - 1 November 1974
- Military personnel
- 69
- Fatalities
- none
- Decorations
- none
Between 1968 and 1974, the Sahel had had virtually no rainfall, not even in the rainy season. Severe famine was the result. Fleeing from starvation, more than 200.000 people sought refuge in Sudan. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) asked the Netherlands to send military personnel to distribute food aid.
Military unit
Ministers J.P. Pronk (Development Cooperation) and H. Vredeling (Defence) decided in conclave to supply a military unit. The personnel in what was named the Sahel detachment consisted of volunteers from the Disaster Brigade and came mainly from 108 Light Transport Company. Before the mission could begin on 1 September 1974, quartermasters set up the base camp next to the airport in the town of El Fasher, in the West Sudanese region of Darfur.