Germany to contribute 50 soldiers to S. Sudan observer mission

BERLIN, Feb 26, 2005 (AP) — Germany is prepared to contribute several dozen military observers to a planned United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Sudan, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.

A ministry spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, confirmed a report in the weekly Der Spiegel that Defense Minister Peter Struck is considering sending about 50 soldiers — a plan that would require the German parliament’s approval.

The U.N. Security Council is considering a resolution drafted by the United States to send peacekeepers to help monitor a peace deal between the government and rebels in southern Sudan — an agreement that ended Africa’s longest-running conflict after 21 years. U.N. officials envisage dispatching some 10,000 peacekeepers.

The resolution would only allow the peacekeepers to help African Union troops restore peace in a separate conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur province if U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan approved.