Annan urges for more aid to AU mission in Darfur

Jan 18, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — With tensions persisting in Sudan’s western Darfur region, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged more resources for the African Union (AU) mission in the region, while the Security Council considered future plans, including a possible UN force there.

“The Security Council is fully seized of this matter, and is looking at ways and means of strengthening the peacekeeping operations on the ground,” Annan told reporters in New York. “For the immediate, we will need to ensure that the African Union forces have all the support — financial, logistical and material that they need.”

“So we need to take immediate measures to strengthen the African Union, give them the support necessary whilst we work on the future plans for the Security Council,” he said.

Last week, Annan noted that the AU mission will run out of resources in March, and said the UN is undertaking contingency planning as the council weighs future options.

In his remarks to the press Wednesday, the secretary-general said peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, aimed at resolving the Darfur conflict are not going well and he appealed to both sides to negotiate a settlement.

“I think the government and the rebels have to understand that there is a need for urgency, and each day that they delay peace, they are condemning thousands and thousands of their people to misery and impossible conditions,” he said. “So I appeal to the (Sudanese) government and all the rebels to really negotiate in earnest for the sake of their country and their people.”

The UN currently has a peacekeeping mission (UMIS) in southern Sudan to support the implementation of a comprehensive peace deal signed between Khartoum and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

(Xinhua)