African Union Extends Darfur Mandate

Sudanese officials have welcomed the decision by the African Union to extend its peacekeeping mandate in the troubled region of Darfur until the end of the year.

The announcement comes as the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, vowed he would never allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur and accused the West of wanting to dismember his country in order to help Israel.

The latest compromise deal will see AU troops prolong their stay in the region beyond the end of the month - when their mandate was originally due to end and was reached at a summit meeting of the AU's 15-member Peace and Security Council (PSC) meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Reacting to the AU's decision to stay, Sudan's Foreign Minister Al-Sammani Al-Wasila Al-Sammani told AFP news agency that the force was preferable to a UN force proposed by the Security Council.