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NEW YORK - Sudan cleared the way for the United Nations to bolster an African Union force struggling to maintain peace in Darfur when it agreed yesterday to accept United Nations attack helicopters as part of the plan.
The new interim support package will mean deployment of 3000
UN police and military personnel to aid the AU force of 7000 that has been unable to stop the four-year-old war. But Sudan has not agreed to a proposed larger force of more than 20,000 troops and police.
The move could delay sanctions planned by Washington and London, diplomats said, depending on Khartoum's co-operation with the UN and developments in Darfur.
But United States UN Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said no decision had been made and the Bush Administration was awaiting the return from Sudan of John Negroponte, the Deputy Secretary of State.
"We have been down this path before," Wolff said about the new deal. "So we will see if it happens, when it happens."
Khartoum last month submitted 14 pages of conditions to the UN plan, the second phase of a three-stage operation.
But the remaining issue was the inclusion of six helicopters, which Khartoum feared could be used for offensive purposes despite UN assurances they would be there to protect the peacekeepers.
However, yesterday, Sudan officially told the UN it would accept the helicopters.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon greeted Khartoum's announcement as "a very positive sign" after he and African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare briefed the 15-member Security Council on Darfur.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the head of UN peacekeeping, said the new package of 3000 UN military personnel for command headquarters, air support and logistics, was only a prelude to a larger force. "This is not the robust force that Darfur needs," Guehenno said. "It's a support package to lay the groundwork for a future robust force."
Sudan has made clear it expects the third phase, a so-called "hybrid" force, to include only African Union infantry troops.
But the UN and AU have made it clear other nations would be called on if enough Africans were not available.
Konare said the AU had two battalions ready to go to Darfur in preparation for UN personnel, which will take months to deploy. But he said they needed financing for their upkeep and for weapons.
Monies will have to come from donations until the UN force arrives, at which time all UN members will be assessed for the financing. But first camps need to be built and water needs to be available.
Sudan had already allowed phase one of the plan, a light support package of equipment, police, civilian staff and advisers, which is still not complete.
The AU force, under increasing attack themselves, has been unable to stop violence in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced to flee their homes, many to arid camps.
Fighting began four years ago between the Arab-dominated Government and militia who support them and African rebels.
While Sudan's agreement was welcomed, scepticism also was evident in a Security Council statement after the meeting that called on "all parties to facilitate ... without delay" the larger hybrid force.
In Khartoum, Negroponte also said: "We must move quickly to a larger hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force with a single unified chain of command that conforms to UN standards and practices."
- REUTERS