 INNSBRUCK, Austria - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer ruled out on Monday sending troops from the western military alliance to Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur province. De Hoop Scheffer said he believed that NATO could help in the region during the transition phase from an African Union operation to one led by the United Nations but only with a clear UN mandate. “Then we can discuss a NATO role, which I do see in the enabling sphere and not the boots of troops on the ground,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Innsbruck, Austria.
| I'm a bit unclear on the military concept of an 'enabling sphere'. |
The United States has been lobbying for a new UN-led force, backed by NATO and probably double the AU deployment, to take over peacekeeping. Last week, the US Senate called on President George W. Bush to ask for NATO troops to be sent to Darfur.
| Guess that isn't going to happen. |
|