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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has sent a letter to the U.N. secretary-general challenging a plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur — a setback to international efforts to stop the region's escalating violence.
The U.N. wants to send a 22,000-member joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission to Darfur, arguing the AU force of 7,000 now on the ground is overwhelmed. Al-Bashir agreed to the plan in November but has since sent conflicting signals about his commitment.
In his letter, obtained Friday, al-Bashir insisted the November agreement established that the U.N. would provide the AU force with technical and financial assistance and "military consultants with ranks below that of the military commander appointed by the African Union." He objected to a section of a U.N. report stating that "full U.N. involvement in command and control would be a prerequisite for U.N. funding and troop contribution."
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