The NATO Alliance announced that it has started a three-month airlift of African peacekeepers into Sudan’s devastated Darfur region. In a statement, NATO said that the operation began with the deployment of Nigerian troops into the region last week. It said the airlift would continue into September. NATO and the European Union agreed last month to help fly some 5,000 troops from African Union nations into Darfur to strengthen the existing monitoring force of 2,700 troops.