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 UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan is sending a special envoy to Sudan to try to clarify the status of a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force for conflict-wracked Darfur, U.N. officials said Monday.
Ahmedou Ould Abdallah will be sent to Khartoum on Wednesday to deliver a message from Annan to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir following up on phone calls between the two over the weekend concerning the standoff over U.N. participation in Darfur, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government in 2003. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by unleashing the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads, and violence has only increased since the peace accord was signed.
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