Sudan agrees to accept more peacekeepers in Darfur – UN chief

March 29, 2007 (RIYADH) — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he achieved a breakthrough with Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir on deploying an expanded peacekeeping force in Darfur.

“I think we broke the stalemate,” Ban said early today after a two-hour meeting in Riyadh with Bashir, Saudi King Abdullah, African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa on the sidelines of the Arab summit.

Ban said Bashir agreed to allow up to 20,000 peacekeeping troops to go to Darfur, while the secretary-general accepted Sudan’s demand that the soldiers be supplied by the African Union with only logistical support from UN forces.

The Saudi king was instrumental in winning concessions from Sudan during the meeting, which Ban told reporters was “sometimes very heated.”

(Bloomberg)