UN-AU team in Khartoum to convince Sudan on UN troops
June 9, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — A rare high-level joint U.N. and African Union team arrived in Sudan on Friday hoping to convince Khartoum to accept U.N. peacekeeping troops in Darfur and plan for their deployment.
Political team members were due to hold talks with the government on Saturday while military, telecommunications and other technical experts would head to Darfur, in western Sudan, to plan for a possible deployment of U.N. troops.
“We are here to work together to see how well we can help the people in Darfur live together in harmony,” said AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit on his arrival in Khartoum on Friday.
Sudan has so far opposed the deployment of U.N. troops in Darfur to take over from 7,000 poorly equipped and underfunded African Union troops who are monitoring a shaky truce in Darfur.
It had initially refused entry to the team. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir reluctantly agreed to allow them to begin work only after days of intensive talks with U.N. troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi and other senior U.N. officials last month.
The team will be in Sudan for 18 days and includes the head of U.N. peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Geuhenno. U.N. officials said it was unprecedented for someone so senior to head a technical assessment mission., U.N. officials said.
The team will also assess how to beef up the AU mission to deal with the implementation of a May 5 peace deal. The AU is likely to send another 3,000 troops to the region.
Tens of thousands have been killed in Darfur and 2.5 million herded into miserable camps after a revolt which began three years ago triggered a revenge wave of rape, killing and looting.
Sudan rejects U.S. accusations of genocide in Darfur.
(Reuters)