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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The government of Chad has refused to allow the United Nations to send an advance mission to prepare for the possible deployment of U.N. peacekeepers, a setback to plans to help thousands of civilians caught in the spillover of the Darfur conflict in neighboring Sudan.
At the same time, the U.N. Security Council can't start deploying about 3,000 troops, police and civilians to beef up the 7,000-strong African Union force on the ground in Darfur because a letter from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir supporting the deployment that was supposedly sent last week still hasn't arrived.
The problems in both countries were raised during a closed Security Council meeting Tuesday where Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's envoy, Jan Eliasson, briefed members on U.N. and AU efforts to get all rebel groups into peace negotiations.
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