US’s Bush, Egypt’s Mubarak back UN force in Darfur

Sept 20, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — US President George W. Bush and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday discussed the need to deploy a UN force in Sudan’s Darfur region, a White House official said.

“The president spoke to Egyptian president Mubarak earlier today about Sudan. They discussed the urgency of stopping the killing in Darfur,” a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonynimity.

“They expressed a strong commitment to effecting the transition to a UN force,” the official said.

According to the Egyptian MENA, the President Mubarak discussed the Darfur crisis and the deployment of the UN forces in the region with the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday.

Last month, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution calling for the deployment of up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers to replace a smaller, ill-equipped African Union force in war-torn Darfur.

But Sudan’s government has opposed the deployment of the proposed UN mission.

Bush met Mubarak a day after he demanded action to override Khartoum’s opposition in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

(AFP/ST)