NATO extends Darfur mission

Sept 21, 2005 (BRUSSELS) — NATO has extended by a month a mission to airlift African troops joining peace efforts in Sudan’s Darfur region and is studying other ways to help, an alliance official said.

NATO chiefs agreed on Wednesday to prolong until the end of October its first mission on the African continent and added it was considering an African Union (AU) request for help in training of African officers and in providing transport for future troop rotations.

“The AU came to NATO with a new request,” said the official, who requested anonymity, adding the alliance would by the end of this week have airlifted a total of 3,500 African troops, including from Nigeria and Rwanda.

Fighting between government troops and rebels has caused tens of thousands of deaths and driven about 2 million people from their homes in Darfur. Aid officials have said banditry has increased and is disrupting aid deliveries.

There have been calls from non-governmental organisations and others for NATO to send its own troops to act as a buffer between opposing forces in Darfur.

The alliance is sceptical of such a role and insists any involvement must be sanctioned both by the AU and the Sudanese government.

(Reuters/ST)