UN team holds talks with AU official on Darfur situation

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 6, 2004 (Xinhua) — A United Nations team Friday held talks here with Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Alpha Oumar Konare on the issue of assisting the AU how to deploy peacekeeping force in Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur, said a UN official.

The UN team will leave here for Khartoum, capital of Sudan on Sunday, and during its stay in Sudan, the team will visit the Darfur region, and is also expected to consult with the Sudanese government on the region’s situation, said the team leader Cammerate Patrick, who refused to give details about the talks with Konare.

Following the recent AU declaration of expanding its 300 protection force to Darfur region to about 2,000, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan decided to send a team to Addis Ababa helping the AU prepare to deploy force in the region.

However, an AU official disclosed that it would take time to decide the date for sending force to the region

The Darfur crisis has escalated into what the United Nations called the world’s current worst humanitarian crisis since the indigenous revolted against the Khartoum government in February 2003 as over 10,000 people were reportedly killed and more than one million others displaced.

The UN Security Council last week passed a resolution on Darfur problems, which asked the Sudan government to disarm the Arab militia Janjaweed in one month, and to commit itself in resolving the Darfur crisis.