New York - A small amount of extra peacekeeping troops for
Sudan's troubled Darfur region could be in place by October,
officials said Friday after a high-level meeting on Darfur at the
United Nations.
Nigeria and Rwanda were considering sending 'a few battalions' to
the region next month, according to March Malloch-Brown, Britain's
secretary of state for Africa, Asia and the UN, who spoke to
reporters after the UN meeting, chaired by Secretary General Ban Ki-
moon.
Those limited forces, if sent, would be on their governments' own
initiative. They would not be part of a disputed joint UN-African
Union force of some 20,000 troops, finally approved by the UN
Security Council in July, more than one year after rebels and the
Sudanese government signed a shaky peace agreement.
A 'first wave' of the UN-AU force could be in place by the
beginning of next year, Malloch-Brown said.
For months, Sudan had opposed a UN force, insisting that only
African troops would be allowed into the region. Khartoum eventually
agreed to the UN force after the Security Council agreed it should
have a primarily 'African character.'
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who attended the UN
meeting, said he was concerned with the slowness of the response so
far.
'Here we are 18 months after the signing of the Darfur peace
agreement, and we are still at the initial phase of establishing
security,' he told reporters.
Negroponte said he was 'hopeful' that the full UN-AU force could
be deployed by spring 2008, in line with the timetable set by the
Security Council.
About 300,000 people have been killed in fighting between
government-backed Arab militias and African rebel groups in Darfur.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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