Sudan to implement first phase of U.N.-A.U. peacekeeping mission

~ President Omar al-Bashir insisted the African Union remain the main player in the force.

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudanese officials will meet Tuesday to implement the first phase of a limited U.N. role for the African Union peacekeeping force in the Darfur region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who leaves office today, said after Friday's agreement on the hybrid U.N.-A.U. force that he was taking "nothing for granted," given previous backtracking by the Sudanese government on deals for getting relief to the war-torn area.

The United Nations had been pushing for a much larger and stronger U.N.-commanded peacekeeping force in an effort to put an end to fighting in Darfur that has killed more than 200,000 people and left 2.5 million displaced.

But President Omar al-Bashir insisted the African Union remain the main player in the force and rejected U.N. troops.

Under A.U. command

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sadeq al-Magli said the government "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 included sending 105 military, 33 police officers and 45 civilian experts along with logistical support and communication equipment. It said those personnel would be under the command of the African Union mission.

Sudan has maintained that U.N. military and police sent to Darfur will serve only as experts and consultants and not as troops on the ground.

Al-Bashir's government, which has been accused of supporting Arab militias blamed for much of the bloodshed in Darfur, for months rejected the U.N. Security Council's plan to deploy 20,000 U.N. troops as replacements for the 7,000 weakly armed African Union troops.

In November, the United Nations began pushing a plan to reinforce the existing African Union force with smaller numbers of U.N. personnel as well as technical and financial assistance.

Three-phase mission

Annan has said the joint U.N.-A.U. mission would have three phases, with the final one calling for the peacekeeping mission to have an eventual strength of at least 17,300 soldiers, 3,300 civilian police and 16 additional police units.

Al-Magli, however, said Sudan accepted the final phase but insisted the number of troops will be negotiated by the force commander and delegates from the United Nations, African Union and Sudan.

The violence in Darfur began in February 2003 when rebels from ethnic African farm communities rebelled over what they considered discrimination and oppression by the Arab-dominated government in disputes with Arab nomads over land and water.

U.N. and African Union officials have accused al-Bashir's government of unleashing an Arab militia, the janjaweed, against the ethnic Africans and coordinating with the militia in attacks by the regular army. Sudanese officials deny doing that.