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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday he plans to meet Sudan's president at an African Union summit next week to press for a U.N. takeover of peacekeeping in conflict-wracked Darfur despite the Khartoum government's opposition.
President Omar al-Bashir vowed earlier this week never to let U.N. peacekeepers into the vast western region where three years of fighting has claimed about 200,000 lives and forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes.
The African Union has said it cannot handle a long-term peacekeeping operation and wants its 7,000-strong force replaced by U.N. peacekeepers. The U.N. has envisioned taking over in early 2007 and wants to beef up the poorly equipped AU force in the interim — but the handover is contingent on approval by the Sudanese government.
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