tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post2343708337670615494..comments2024-03-24T20:40:46.666-04:00Comments on Pan-African News Wire: Sudan Likely to Resist US Interference in its Internal AffairsPan-African News Wirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-56967475311863048832007-04-11T08:48:00.000-04:002007-04-11T08:48:00.000-04:00U.N., African Union and Sudan Reach Agreement to H...U.N., African Union and Sudan Reach Agreement to Help Strengthen African Force in Darfur <BR/><BR/>By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer <BR/>The Associated Press <BR/><BR/>UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations, the African Union and the Sudanese government have reached agreement to beef up the African force in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region with U.N. troops, police and equipment, officials said Tuesday. <BR/><BR/>U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said a high-level technical meeting in Ethiopia on Monday set the stage for bolstering the 7,000-strong AU force. The package will include more than 3,000 U.N. troops, police, and others as well as substantial equipment. <BR/><BR/>The United Nations and Sudan agreed in November on a three-stage plan to strengthen the AU force, culminating with the deployment of a joint AU-U.N. force with 20,000 security personnel. But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has since backed off the deal, saying he would only allow a larger AU force, with technical and logistical support from the United Nations. <BR/><BR/>The first phase, a light support package including U.N. police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support, has already been sent to Darfur. The meeting in Addis Ababa on Monday focused on finalizing the second stage of the U.N. plan. <BR/><BR/>"The meeting finalized agreement on the U.N. heavy support package ... with the exception of one element on which the Sudanese delegation is hoped to provide a positive and expeditious response," Okabe said. "The meeting also agreed to move forward expeditiously with implementation of the package." <BR/><BR/>Acting U.S. ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States is trying to clarify "whether this is an unconditional agreement of acceptance of the deployment of the heavy package, or if there were conditions or clarifications that in the past have been used by the government of Sudan to slow this down." <BR/><BR/>The U.N. is hoping for a response from the Sudanese government on the helicopters before high-level consultations on Darfur at U.N. headquarters April 16-17, hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. <BR/><BR/>Last month, Sudan's president sent a letter to Ban approving a very limited U.N. role in Darfur, objecting to helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft, reducing troop levels, and ruling out international police in towns and government-controlled areas. <BR/><BR/>But in late March, Ban and al-Bashir reached an agreement to work out differences on the heavy support package at Monday's meeting in Addis Ababa. <BR/><BR/>The question of a third-phase joint U.N.-AU force, however, remains problematic. <BR/><BR/>In late March, al-Bashir sharply rejected any U.N. deployment, repeating his stance that the U.N. role must be limited to logistical and financial help for AU peacekeepers in Darfur. <BR/><BR/>The AU force has been unable to stop violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.2 million forced to flee their homes in nearly four years of fighting between the government and ethnic African rebels. <BR/><BR/>The violence has only increased since a peace deal last year signed by the government and one rebel group. Other rebel groups rejected the deal and continued fighting. <BR/><BR/>On Tuesday, gunmen ambushed an African Union peacekeeping patrol in Darfur, killing one soldier and critically injuring two others, the AU mission said. The three Rwandan soldiers were part of a unit patrolling in a zone controlled by Sudan Liberation Movement rebels, the AU said. <BR/><BR/>"But there is no way to confirm whether our soldiers were attacked by the rebels until the investigation is complete," said Moussa Hamani, an AU spokesman. <BR/><BR/>Associated Press writer Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Nyala, Sudan.Pan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.com