AU pinning its hopes on Annan
2006-07-03 20:57
Banjul - African leaders were pinning their hopes on Monday on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan ending the impasse on international intervention in the crisis in Darfur.
Annan said he was hopeful of persuading Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir to accept a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur after African leaders had agreed to keep their forces there until the end of the year as a stop-gap.
"I think we had constructive conversation," said Annan after "long and substantive" talks with the Sudanese leader on Sunday.
It was during these talks that al-Beshir promised to give his plan to end the crisis within the month.
Annan said: "We are dealing with a leader who might have genuine difficulties and genuine reasons for the position he is taking.
"It is my responsibility to explain to him why he will need the assistance of the UN."
AU keeping its forces there
"I still suspect that, in time, there will be a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur," said Annan, whose mandate as UN chief expires at the end of the year.
African Union leaders agreed on Sunday to extend the 7 000-strong force in Darfur until the end of the year to allow the UN to finalise its preparations to deploy in the vast troubled region.
The AU had planned to withdraw its poorly equipped force by the end of September, citing a financial crunch.
But Annan asked the African leaders at the summit for "flexibility" on their original plan, promising he would raise funding for the force at a donors conference on July 18.
Western powers want to deploy a robust Nato-backed UN force to the devastated western region of Darfur, a plan opposed by al-Beshir.
The UN donors' conference also will raise funds to improve humanitarian aid to about 2.4 million displaced people in the region after funding shortages forced international aid organisations to halve food rations because of shortages.
"We hope to be able to go up to full (food) rations by October," said Annan.
A civil conflict has been raging in Sudan's Darfur region for three years.
It is an area roughly the size of France where up to 300 000 people have been killed in fighting with rebels opposed to Khartoum.
Deeply divided
Al-Beshir's opposition to the deployment of UN peacekeepers to the devastated western region of Darfur has deeply divided a national-unity government formed after a landmark peace deal last year.
First vice-president Salva Kiir, who heads Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) which waged a deadly two-decade war against government troops in the south that ended with the January 2005 deal, has sharply distanced himself from Beshir by calling on the security council to deploy the UN force.
Al-Beshir gave the UN chief an update on Sunday on efforts being made to disarm the militias in the west and those across the border in eastern Chad.