Sudan accepts AU proposal to extend Darfur peace mission

Addis Ababa (dpa): The Sudanese delegation to the Darfur peace talks has accepted Friday's proposal by the African Union (AU) to extend the peacekeeping mandate of its African Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) for another nine months, while signalling its acceptance of UN troops to replace AMIS soldiers when their mandate ends.

The acceptance is seen as a compromise as Sudan had been strongly opposed to transferring AMIS duties to the UN.

In a three-point proposal to a meeting of the African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC), which opened Friday, Sudan said it was prepared to accept the deployment of UN troops in Darfur "after and as part of the conclusion," of peace talks.

Furthermore Sudan said it was willing to contribute 10,000 troops towards AMIS's ongoing efforts.

The proposals, presented by Sudan's Foreign Minister Lam Karol came on the heels of a report submitted by Alpha Oumar Konare, chair of the AU Commission, to the Union's Peace and Security Council, which is considering a number of options on the future of AMIS, including its replacement by a UN peacekeeping force.

The Sudanese government is strongly opposed to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur and has come out with its own proposal to keep AMIS in Darfur by contributing the funds needed to do so.

Konare said there was ample time for "operational activities" during the extension of AMIS from 1st April to 31 December 2006 for the necessary transition to a UN peacekeeping force.

The 7,000-strong AMIS has been in Darfur for nearly two years. Konare said the mission wants to achieve two basic benchmarks in the next nine months: stabilizing the security situation and seeing the peace agreement concluded.

The three-year Darfur conflict began when rebels rose up against the Khartoum government, complaining of political and economic marginalization.

The government armed Arab militias, known as janjaweed, to crush the rebellion. Their scorched-earth campaign led to some 180,000 deaths and 2 million people displaced. Human rights groups put the death toll at more than 300,000.

The United States, the European Union and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan have all pressed Sudan to accept United Nations help.

dpa gh pmc sr

Copyright (c) 2006 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 03/10/2006 09:58:06