UN Announces New Agreement on Darfur Peacekeepers

Western leaders have hailed as a "breakthrough" a deal brokered with Sudan by outgoing UN chief Kofi Annan.

|PIC1|The news has pleased international leaders, although significant differences remain over the shape of a peacekeeping force.

Sudan has said it welcomes the United Nations' support for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur but rejects suggestions that the UN will take command.

Sudan has consistently rejected plans to entirely replace the AU force with a larger, stronger UN mission.

News emerged on Thursday, when UN chief Kofi Annan said a compromise had been reached for a planned hybrid UN-AU force to break the deadlock over the Darfur mission.

The news has been welcomed but also a certain amount of scepticism remains following a demoralising series of negotiations, which has not been able to stem the killing and violence.

The violence has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths over the three years of conflict in the region. In addition, approximately three million others have been forced to flee their homes.

President Omar al-Bashir told state TV: "The government of Sudan welcomes all financial, material, logistic or technical assistance from the UN in order to strengthen the AU mission in Darfur."

His Foreign Minister Lam Akol specified that "there should be no talk about a mixed force".

Alarmingly violence had intensified over the past months despite a peace deal struck in May between the government and one of the Darfur rebel groups.

Meanwhile, Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein said Darfur would become an "invaders' graveyard" if a UN peacekeeping force was sent there.

The depth of the crisis was revealed after UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland was forced to cut short his trip to Darfur after Sudan's government advised him it would be too dangerous to travel outside the region's major towns.

It has been reported that the UN would ideally like a force of approximately 17,000 troops operating in the region, however, Sudan has said that a mere 12,000 would be enough. There are currently 7,000 AU troops in Darfur.

The Sudanese government has insisted that the problems engulfing the region have been exaggerated for political motives, and that the situation was not as dire as the international community is making out.

In addition, the government denies backing the Arab Janjaweed militias, reportedly behind a genocide against Darfur's black African population.

Sudan insists that the militias are being disarmed but contrary reports from Darfur say the army is working with the Janjaweed in violence.

US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair both welcomed the Addis agreement which Blair described as "an important breakthrough" pending confirmation of the details.

The West has pushed hard for a substantial UN force to end the three years of extreme violence in Darfur.

Egeland and journalists accompanying him saw badly wounded victims of the violence and heard gruesome stories of militia targeting women and children in Darfur. Survivors described the attackers as Arab Janjaweed militia, who were armed by Khartoum.

"Civilians are not being defended against armed, terrible, gruesome men who attack women and children," Egeland said.

The Sudanese UN ambassador said in Addis Ababa government officials would respond to the latest plan before the AU Peace and Security Council meets on 24 November to discuss Darfur.

"We all agreed to have a good political process for any peacekeeping to proceed," he told reporters.

The AU force mandate expires on 31 December.