UN asks NATO for continued Darfur mission support

Mar 29, 2006 (BRUSSELS) — The United Nations has asked NATO for continued support of the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s Darfur region, an alliance official said Wednesday.

Rwandan soldiers deploying to the troubled Sudan’s Darfur r as part of an African Union mission, board a US Air Force C-130 heading for El Fasher, Sudan .

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said, however, that any action would be taken in close cooperation with the African Union and would not go beyond the scope of its current help.

NATO now airlifts AU troops into the region and provides some training outside Sudan.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called his NATO counterpart, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, on Monday to discuss the issue of extending such aid on an interim basis.

“No one is discussing, planning or considering a NATO force on the ground. That is not one of the options,” Appathurai said.

The United States has called for greater NATO involvement in Darfur, which the U.N. has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The conflict there has left more than 180,000 people dead and 2 million displaced.

(ST/AP)