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France to send troops to Sudan
01/08/2007 10:06 - (SA)
Paris - France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said on Wednesday that his country had offered to send troops to the joint United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur.
The UN Security Council approved the 26 000-strong peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese region on Tuesday.
The goal of the force, which would replace the beleaguered 7 000-strong AU force on the ground no later than December 31, was to try to end more than four years of fighting in Darfur during which more than 200 000 people had died.
Kouchner said the force would be made up mostly of African and Asian troops. He did not say how many French troops he had offered.
Kouchner said: "As African troops are not numerous enough, we will certainly call upon U.N. troops, which would come mostly from Asia. France has proposed its services."
With the Darfur conflict forcing millions of refugees into neighbouring Chad and elsewhere, France had also called for a mission to secure eastern Chad. Kouchner said he hoped that operation would be deployed quickly.
- AP
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