Sudan accepts UN package for peace

The Sudanese government has accepted the UN package for Darfur, including the deployment of what is called a "hybrid" peacekeeping operation of UN and AU troops, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night.

Spokesman Sadeq al-Magli said the number of troops in the hybrid force "would be decided by the commander and his committee, and we have to state clearly that the entire command would be from the African Union".

The comment reflected his government's long standing opposition to the deployment of 20,000 UN troops in Darfur, as proposed by the UN Security Council.

In deference to Khartoum's opposition, the UN scaled back its plans to replace the AU force of 7,000 troops in Darfur with the much bigger UN operation and, since early November, has been pushing to reinforce the existing peacekeepers with smaller numbers of UN personnel as well as technical and financial assistance.

Speaking before the government's assent was announced - al-Magli said a Darfur peacekeeping mission would be "a hybrid operation and not international or joint forces".

Last night he said that the peacekeeping troops would come mainly from African Union countries, but the UN would provide technical assistance, consultants and military and police experts.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the development.

"The reports I have received from my envoy in Khartoum, (Ahmedou) Ould Abdallah, encourages me to think we may tomorrow receive a green light from President Omar Bashir for a full ceasefire, a renewed effort to bring all parties into (the) political process, and deployment of the proposed African Union-United Nations hybrid force to protect the population," he said.

But in a farewell speech to the UN Security Council, Annan cautioned, "We will need to see the document that Abdallah will bring."

"I do fervently hope," he said, "that we are now at last close to rescuing the people of Darfur from their agony."

"But after so many disappointments, I take nothing for granted," Annan said.

Annan said a ceasefire in Darfur is "imperative" because of the significant increase in violence in the war-torn region over the last few weeks, including an upsurge in attacks on civilians by militias. To achieve a ceasefire, he said, efforts to get all rebel groups and militias to join the Darfur Peace Agreement must be immediately reactivated.

The Sudanese government will meet on St Stephen's Day to implement the first phase of the hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping mission to Darfur, a spokesman for the country's foreign ministry said today.

Khartoum has said it accepted a UN-proposed package, but insisted that the AU would be the larger contributor to the peacekeeping force for the wartorn region of western Sudan.

Foreign ministry spokesman Sadeq al-Magli said the government has "agreed to meet on Tuesday for the immediate implementation of what has been agreed upon." He did not elaborate.

The state-run Sudan News Agency said the first phase of UN package includes sending about 105 military, 33 police and 45 civilian experts along with logistical support and communication equipment. It said those personnel would be deployed under the command of the AU mission in Darfur.

Sudan has maintained that military and police sent to Darfur would be experts and consultants not troops on the ground. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he was encouraged that Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir would agree to a hybrid AU-UN force, along with a ceasefire and renewed peace efforts.