AU seeks more Nato support

2006-09-22 07:24

Nick Wadhams

New York- The president of the African Union asked Nato to give more support for its peacekeepers in the violence-wracked Darfur region, said Nato secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Scheffer said on Thursday that Nato should "answer positively and favourably" to the request from Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, a leader of the AU, and promised to take it back to officials at the alliance headquarters in Brussels.

Scheffer said: "I promise the president of the AU that I as secretary-general will do everything I can with the allies to see that Nato can respond positively to these kinds of requests."

Nato already provided airlift support and trained troops with the AU force, which was sorely under-funded and under-equipped. It had largely failed to control the violence that had left 200 000 dead in Darfur and displaced more than 2.5 million since 2003.

On Wednesday, the AU extended the mandate of the force through the end of the year.

UN members 'wanted to weaken Sudan'

It had wanted to turn over control of the peacekeepers to the UN, which would then expand and bolster the struggling force, but Sudan's government had refused.

President Omar al-Bashir claimed that some members of the UN security council wanted to weaken and divide Sudan.

A decision to extend more Nato support to the AU mission in Sudan would not require new approval from the alliance's member states.

Daniel Fried, United States assistant secretary of state for Europe, said its military planners would work out the details.

According to Fried: "It is our view that this is another example of Nato's increasing role around the world. It can be called upon support in many places, where Nato has not been present traditionally and is present today."

Both Scheffer and Fried emphasised that Nato involvement would not involve sending alliance troops to Darfur. Still, Fried said, planners should rule nothing out - even though such a move would almost certainly be opposed by al-Bashir and was highly unlikely.

Fried said: "We have not considered Nato ground forces, but I don't want to start ruling out things. That isn't a hint, that is merely prudence in a situation that can change."

- AP