African Union: Five Nations to Support Darfur Force

Five African nations pledged on Thursday to send peacekeepers to a mission in Sudan's troubled Darfur region that was approved this week by the U.N. Security Council, a top African Union (AU) official said.

Said Djinnit, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, said member states had responded positively during talks on the deployment of up to 26,000 U.N. and AU troops who will absorb a smaller AU force that has failed to quell the violence.

"Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon and Ethiopia have pledged to provide troops for the Darfur operation," Djinnit told reporters at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. Nigeria already has troops in Darfur.

Sudan has promised to cooperate with the new mission, which was authorised by the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

Mutref Sediq, Sudan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said the resolution did not meet all Khartoum's demands.

"But it is reasonable and constitutes a good base for cooperation between the African Union, United Nations and the Sudan government," he told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

The peacekeepers will be able to use force to protect civilians and the world's biggest aid operation, but the resolution was watered down and no longer allows troops to seize illegal arms. There was also no threat of sanctions if Sudan fails to cooperate.

International experts say about 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes since 2003.

Sudan puts the death toll at 9,000 and accuses Western media of exaggerating the conflict, which began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms complaining of neglect by Khartoum.

Several European countries have voiced their readiness to send troops. Nigeria said it planned to send a fourth battalion. Senegal said it would send more soldiers if they have a clear right to defend themselves.

The rebels themselves have now split into a dozen groups, many fighting one another. The United Nations and African Union are hosting a meeting in Tanzania from Friday to try to unite the groups before peace talks with the government.