NAIROBI, 2 October 2004 — The African Union confirmed yesterday that Sudan’s government has “formally accepted the reinforcement of the AU force” in Darfur, the western region in the grip of civil war, but denied that any accord had been signed.
“I confirm that the Khartoum government formally accepted the reinforcement of the AU force,” said AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Said Djinnit, reacting to a declaration by the Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia quoted yesterday in Sudan’s Al-Sahafa daily.
Djinnit did not specify by how many troops the force would be beefed up. However, he told AFP here by telephone from AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, “no accord has been concluded” on reinforcing the troop presence in Darfur.
Sudanese envoy Osman Al-Sayyed told Al-Sahafa that an accord providing for the deployment in Darfur of 3,500 more soldiers and 800 more police officers was signed Thursday in Addis Ababa by Sudan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Salih Fidhail al Tigani and Djinnit.
Djinnit said he met a Sudanese delegation that included the deputy minister on Thursday in Addis Ababa. “The exchange of views focused on the future deployment” of the AU force in Darfur, he said. Djinnit declined to confirm Khartoum’s announcement that the Sudanese government had also agreed that mandate of the AU force should be changed.
The AU “is working on the basis of a wider mandate to cover humanitarian issues to take into account the protection of civilians,” he said.
The AU currently has some 300 soldiers in Darfur, whose task is to protect some 150 observers monitoring a ceasefire reached in April between Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups.
The size and new mandate of the AU force is expected to be determined at a meeting of the pan-African Peace and Security Council in mid-October.
