US Rice sees AU mission in Darfur not enough

April 27, 2006 (SOFIA) — The African Union (AU) mission in Sudan’s Darfur region is not enough and should be taken over by the United Nations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

“The AU mission, while it has been successful thus far, is not robust enough to deal with the continued violence in Darfur,” Ricetold reporters in Sofia after the first day of an informal meetingof NATO foreign ministers.

She said NATO has to provide support for the AU mission as the first order of business. “But also, there needs to be a UN blue-hatted mission which is more sustainable and can be more robust,” she said.

NATO is ready to work with the UN and the AU to try to bring about that more robust mission, she added.

NATO can provide support for either an AU mission, or a UN mission, she said.

“I would hope that everyone would put aside whatever constraints there are so that we can respond to what is a really quite difficult humanitarian and security situation in Darfur.”

(Xinhua/ST)