UN to give African troops in Sudan $77 mln

Nov 13, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — The United Nations will give $77 million (40.4 million pounds) to an African Union (AU) peace mission in Sudan’s troubled region of Darfur, a top U.N. official said on Monday.

Sudan’s government is opposed to the deployment of a force under U.N. command to Darfur where an underfunded 7,000-strong AU force has been unable to quell violence that has cost at least 200,000 lives in the past three years.

“We have agreed on two packages of support worth around $77 million for the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS),” Hedi Annabi, a U.N. assistant secretary general for peace-keeping operations, told reporters after a meeting of UN, AU and Sudanese officials at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Annabi said $22 million would go towards funding military staff officers, police advisers and civilian personnel to strengthen the chain of command of AMIS.

A second tranche of $55 million go towards equipment and personnel and a specialised support unit.

“The government of Sudan has agreed to the deployment of the two packages,” he added.

A U.N. Security Council delegation had been scheduled to take part in Monday’s meeting but disagreements over the composition of the delegation and whether the group had a mandate to engage in the discussion scuttled the plans.

(Reuters)