Sudan rejects an indefinite presence of African Union troops in war-ravaged Darfur although it welcomes a planned increase in troop numbers for now, a Sudanese official said on Monday. "Sudan agrees that the African Union troops stay until the crisis is over, but not indefinitely," an aide to Mohamed al-Dabi, the Sudanese president's top Darfur representative, told Reuters.| “Sudan has ruled out allowing 20,000 U.N. troops to replace a poorly funded, ill-equipped African Union force of 7,000 tasked with monitoring a shaky ceasefire. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has likened U.N. peacekeepers to an invasion force bent on regime change in Khartoum.” |
The mandate for African forces in Darfur expires at the end of the year, and European Commission aid chief Louis Michel said it needs increased United Nations support if it is to continue. The aide to Dabi said Sudan was not opposed to beefing up the African forces, echoing remarks by the European Union's head in Sudan, Kent Degerfelt, that Khartoum seemed open to strengthening the African role with increased logistical and financial support from the United Nations. The EU is the biggest financial contributor to the AU mission in Darfur.