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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations said Tuesday it will propose a program to strengthen African peacekeeping efforts in conflict-wracked Darfur, culminating in a joint African Union-U.N. operation.
In an attempt to give new momentum to the stalled peace process in Darfur, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is convening a meeting Thursday in Ethiopia of senior officials from the African Union, the Arab League, Sudan, the European Union, the United States, China, Russia, France and half a dozen African countries.
A U.N. Security Council resolution has called for U.N. peacekeepers to take over for the 7,000 poorly equipped and underfunded AU peacekeepers in Darfur who have been unable to quell a war that has left more than 200,000 dead since 2003. But Sudan's government has firmly opposed the takeover.
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