Sudan: The African Union is preparing to send hundreds of troops to Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, a senior AU official has said.
"The protection force will be deployed as soon as possible," AU director of peace and security Mr Sam Ibok told a news conference yesterday ahead of the annual AU summit of African leaders, which begins in Addis Ababa today. Mr Ibok said he was certain Sudan would not object.
Khartoum is under heavy pressure from African countries, the United States and the United Nations to restore security in Darfur, described as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
The Sudanese government earlier yesterday agreed to attend African Union-mediated talks in Ethiopia on July 15th later this month aimed at reaching a negotiated end to the crisis in Darfur, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said.
The AU has made Darfur a top item on its agenda during meetings in Addis Ababa this week. One official said the war in Sudan's west could be a litmus test for the two-year-old organisation's ability to resolve conflicts in Africa. But despite pressure from the AU, the UN and the US, the path to peace in Darfur remains difficult.
Two rebels groups that took up arms against the government last year have said they would not negotiate unless Sudan first disarmed marauding militias and respected a shaky ceasefire agreed in April.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) say the government has armed Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge.
After UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan's visit last week to Sudan and neighbouring Chad, where about 200,000 Darfur refugees are encamped, Sudan signed a joint communique vowing to disarm the militias, allow unrestricted aid access and speed up talks. - (Reuters)