U.N. tells Sudan it sending military help to Darfur

Sept 26, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The United Nations told Sudan on Tuesday it was sending military experts to Darfur to help the under-equipped African Union force, a move that needs Khartoum’s support, officials said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced on Friday that the world body would move 105 personnel, mainly military experts, to Darfur in the next few weeks to man communications and help with transport in anticipation of an eventual transition to a U.N. force.

But the package of assistance does not have Sudan’s permission yet, a senior U.N. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union Commission, have written to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir “to inform him” of the technical support to African troops, Dujarric said on Tuesday.

The African Union force of some 7,000 troops and monitors has agreed to stay until year’s end to help stop atrocities in Sudan’s western region. It also asked for help from the United Nations and funds from the Arab League and promised to raise another 4,000 troops.

But the AU force, the main bulwark against abuse in Darfur, as been unable to stop the violence that has driven 2.5 million people from their homes and left an estimated 200,000 dead since 2003.

Short of equipment, funds and soldiers, the African Union is in favor of turning over control of the peacekeepers to the United Nations but Sudan’s Bashir has refused, saying it would only divide and weaken Sudan.

Still, the United Nations on Monday called together 49 potential troop contributors for its own force and received some pledges for infantry soldiers from Tanzania, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Espen Bartheide, Norway’s state secretary for defense, said his country, together with Sweden, had offered a joint battalion of about 500 engineers and other experts for the still non-existent U.N. force, authorized at 20,500 military personnel and police.

Bartheide told Reuters in a telephone interview the new U.N. force should be dominated by African troops with other countries providing “quality equipment.”

But he said that except for three Norwegian logistics experts, the engineering battalion would not be part of an AU force but wait until the United Nations took charge.

Some diplomats believe countries should beef up the African Union operation rather than only push for U.N. control.

But Bartheide and U.N. peacekeeping officials say the only viable operation is a transition from the African Union to the United Nations and not an “AU plus.”

(Reuters)