June 12, 2007
Sudan Okays Armed Force
for Embattled Darfur
Addis Ababa
Sudan accepted Tuesday a hybrid United Nations-African Union (AU)
force to be deployed in its war-torn Darfur region after months of
wrangling over the mission, an official said.
UN, AU and Sudanese officials were meeting at the AU headquarters in
Addis Ababa to hash out the final revised details of the plan, which
was set to see up to 23,000 troops on the ground, but according to
the new agreement, would probably be between 17,000 and 19,000
soldiers.
"The government of Sudan has accepted the proposal of a hybrid
operation," said Said Djinnit, the AU's peace and security council
commissioner.
"The meeting concluded that the proposed operation would contribute
considerably to the stabilization of the situation in Darfur in its
political, humanitarian and security dimensions," he added.
The other terms of the new deal were not immediately clear. Sudan
had been pushing for an Africa-only mission, calling UN involvement
akin to "neo-colonialism".
In New York, UN spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed the deal between the
three sides but did not give any further details. He said the text
of the agreement would be available to UN members in New York on
Tuesday.
A thinly-spread, 7,000-member AU force currently patrols the region
the size of France, but is charged with being ill-equipped to
protect Darfuris and has faced constant attacks on its soldiers.
Sudan has faced months of international pressure on its handling of
the Darfur conflict - which Washington calls genocide - and has
continued to harp over various finer points of the proposed hybrid
force.
Djinnit called on countries to speedily contribute troops and funds
to the force and stressed the need for a political solution to the
conflict.
Some 300,000 people have died since fighting between Arab militias
and African tribes broke out in Darfur four years ago and 2.5
million people have been forced from their homes.
Sudan is charged with arming the militias known as Janjaweed to
crush a rebellion by members of predominantly African tribes who
complained that remote Darfur remained undeveloped due to neglect by
Sudan's powerful Islamist regime.
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