Sudan crushes hopes for Darfur crisis solution

Sudan’s president has rejected a proposal to send thousands of UN peacekeepers to Darfur to boost 7,000 African peacekeepers there, crushing hopes for a quick solution to a crisis that is spreading across central Africa.

“We want an African force,” Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir told reporters after closed-door African Union talks in Abuja at which African leaders were advocating a proposal for an expanded peacekeeping mission that would include blue-helmeted UN soldiers.